“Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Psalm 73:25-26   

IndescribableLaura Davis

Leader: O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  

People: So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

Responsive Call To Worship

Psalm 63

Leader:  Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

People:  So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.

Responsive Call To Worship

Psalm 63

Leader:  My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,

People: when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

All: for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

Responsive Call To Worship

Psalm 63

Ain’t No RockChris Tomlin

Love the Lord Your God

Heavenly Father, you call us to follow you. You call us to make your dreams our dreams, your values our values, your story to become our story. We confess that we have allowed our world to shape us. Where you desire us to serve, we have sought to be served. Where you desire sacrifice, we have pursued comfort.  

Confession of Sin

You call us to engage but we remain passive. You call us to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Yet we fill ourselves with lesser things that can never satisfy. Forgive us for our refusal to follow you. Show us your glory and give us grace to live as disciples who pursue you with our whole hearts. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.  

Confession of Sin

Silent time for personal confession

He Knows My Name

Concert of Prayer 7pm, Friday, February 1st in the Parlor

Nine Weeks of Prayer

Feb. 1 – April 5Prayer Guide Booklets will be provided at the Concert of

Prayer, Friday Feb. 1 and posted online

Unity Seminar: “Being One”Saturday, Feb. 9

Speaker: Mark RobinsonCost: $15/person

Lunch and childcare are provided.

Attention Men of Faith!Immediate need for 3 volunteers

to mentor 3 FCF youth • Requirements• 21 or older• Available for breakfast Fridays 7

to 8 am• Access to vehicle

Contact ARNY through church office or at ARNYARNOLD@gmail.com

SUBSTITUTE TUTORS NEEDED!

Available Wednesdays and/or Thursdays 6:30-8:30

Spring semester begins February 13th/14th No experience needed, just a love of kids and/or math and reading. We’ll give you

everything you need!Sign up at the Welcome Table!

Scripture ReadingI Corinthians 1:18-31

18 For the word of the cross is folly 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, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 

Scripture ReadingI Corinthians 1:18-31

25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,  not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 

Scripture ReadingI Corinthians 1:18-31

28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being[c] might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him[d] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Scripture ReadingI Corinthians 1:18-31

Sunday, February 31:00-3:00 in the Fellowship Hall

Discussion on Spiritual Disciplines with a Stressed-Out Schedule

First Sunday Luncheonwith the University Connections

Ministry

S

Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5:1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

1) The Declaration

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” vs 3

“The beatitudes paint a comprehensive portrait of a Christian disciple. We see him first alone on his knees before God, acknowledging his spiritual poverty and mourning over it. This makes him meek or gentle in relationship and drives him to work peace and justice in the world at great personal expense.”

John Stott

2) The Desperation

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” vs 8

Excerpts from Students on SOM

“I did not like the essay ‘Sermon the Mount.’ It was hard to read and made me feel like I had to be perfect and no one is.”

“The things asked in this sermon are absurd. To look at a woman is adultery? That is the most extreme, stupid, un-human statement that I have ever heard.”

Virginia Stem Owens. “God and Man at Texas A&M.” Reformed Journal

3) The Deliverer for radical faith.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Vs 6

Ravens coach John Harbaugh (l.) and brother, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, talk with their father.

Psalm 73

21 ¶ When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, 22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.

23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

“The beatitudes paint a comprehensive portrait of a Christian disciple. We see him first alone on his knees before God, acknowledging his spiritual poverty and mourning over it. This makes him meek or gentle in relationship and drives him to work peace and justice in the world at great personal expense.”

John Stott

“We believe that the missionary task is incomplete if it stops short of planting strong, culturally relevant reproducing churches, which will themselves engage in the task of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

FCF Mission’s Committee

2) Gospel Drifting: vs 12-13

“ For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.” vs 12

“They did not deny the need to believe in Christ for salvation they just stressed that you must be circumcised and keep the law as well. In other words you must let Moses finish what Christ has begun. You yourself must finish, by your obedience to the law, what Christ as begun. You must add your works to the works of Christ.. You must finish Christ’s unfinished work.”

John Stott

3) Gospel Discipline vs 11, 14-17

“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” vs 11

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham jail. 1963

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

4) Gospel Driver: vs 19-21

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Vs 20

"Our care for the derelict and our active love have become our distinctive sign before the enemy. . . See, they say, how they love one another and how ready they are to die for each other.“

Tertullian (AD 155–220)

“. . . Christianity served as a revitalization movement that arose in response to the misery, chaos, fear, and brutality of life in the urban Greco-Roman world. ….To cities filled with the homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachment. To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christianity provided a new and expanded sense of family. To cities torn by violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis for social solidarity. And to cities faced with epidemics, fire, and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing services. . . . For what they brought was not simply an urban movement, but a new culture capable of making life in Greco-Roman cities more tolerable.”

Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . . Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. . .”

Matthew 5:3,12