OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD

To prepare for Operation Christmas Child, we are going to start gathering items year-round.  This will help us focus each month on specific items and keep us from collecting everything at once. For March, we will be collecting toothbrushes/toothbrush holders. A box will be located in the front of the sanctuary and outside Nikki’s office.

Sanctuary Flowers

The lovely flowers placed in the sanctuary this Sunday morning are in Jimmy Lee’s memory by Brenda Lee and his family.

ANNIE ARMSTRONG EASTER OFFERING

CHURCH GOAL: $ 1500.00
GIVEN SO FAR: $ 558.00

MID-WEEK DEVOTION

Don’t forget to check out Brother David’s Mid-Week Devotion on the book of Psalms. They are uploaded each Wednesday on the sermon page.

Sunrise Service

Giving as of March 24, 2021

Budget for 2021 . . . . . . . .  $320,880.00
Tithes Needed to Date . . . . . $74,049.27
Received to Date . . . . . . . . .  $50,493.50
Needed for weekly budget . . . $6,170.77
Tithes Received this week . . .  $2,091.15

From our Pastor

     What comes to your mind when you hear the term “first importance”?  Do you think in terms of priority?  This would mean that things of “first importance? must be done first.  Or do you think in terms of placement?  This would mean that things of “first importance” are the foundation upon which everything else is built.

     Both of these definitions apply to the events we remember in the next several days.  Paul made this clear when he was inspired to write, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).  The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the first things of our faith.  These truths must be understood first and everything else must be built upon them.

     What are these things of first importance?  They begin with the person of Jesus Christ.  He is the Messiah, the anointed one promised in the Old Testament.  He is the only begotten Son of God; second person in the Trinity.  This means that He is the eternal God who became man (John 1:1-3).  Everything begins with Him and must be built upon Him.

     What did He do?  He “…died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”  Jesus Christ (God who became man) took our sins and our sin nature to the cross and died to pay the penalty for our sin.  Only the perfect God could satisfy the requirements of His holiness.  Only by becoming and dying as a man could He die in the place of sinners.  Christ’s death for our sins was the only way our sin problem could be solved.

     But that is not the end of the things of first importance.  Yes, He (the wonderful Son of God) died for our sins and was buried.  But “…He was raised on the third day so that we could be made forever right with God (Romans 4:25).  We have a living Savior and through him an eternal relationship with God.  This message must be the first truth and the foundational truth of every aspect of our faith.  We don’t have a dead religious example.  We have a risen Savior who is King of kings and Lord of lords.  Everything else finds its place after Him.

     This is a special week.  Everything we believe is built upon the events we remember this week.  As we remember those events, let’s commit ourselves anew to the things of first importance.