We are honored you have chosen to join us in worship. There is a time in our service when we will welcome guests; we will not, however, ask you to stand, raise your hand or do anything that makes you feel awkward. We would like to know you were here, however. Please fill out the information request below and place it in the offering plate or hand it to an usher or minister. We promise to use it only to contact you about our church.

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Sunday, January 31 LAST DAY TO SUBMT BBQ ORDER 9:00 a.m. Scrap Iron Broadcast (WLAQ 1410) 9:45 a.m. Presentation by Dr. Terry Ellis - Virtual/In-Person with Reservation 11:00 a.m. Worship

Monday, February 1 10:00 p.m. Women’s Bible Study - Chapel 5:15 p.m. Adult Bible Study Lesson Prep - Zoom

Wednesday, February 3 4:45 p.m. First Choice Curbside Meals (Reservation Only) 6:00 p.m. Prayer Time - Zoom Churns Bible Study - Zoom 6:20 p.m. First Choice Seminar - “Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White” 8:00 p.m. Parents of Youth/Children Meet with Dr. Terry Ellis - Zoom

Thursday, February 4 5:45 p.m. Women’s Small Group - Zoom

Friday, February 5 12:00 p.m. Finance Committee Meeting - Zoom 11:00 a.m. Pick up Preordered BBQ at GMC Value Mart

The flowers in the Sanctuary are given to the glory of God and in loving memory of Grace Kelley and Margaret Flowers by Lynn and Vickie Whatley.

YOUTH BBQ SALE - LAST DAY TO ORDER! GMC Value Mart will prepare and smoke our BBQ. All orders must be picked up on Friday, February 5 between 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. from the GMC store at 3402 Alabama Highway. The church office should receive all payment of BBQ by Thursday.

BBQ may be purchased online only at www.fbcrome.org or scan this QR Code to order.

WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY RESUMES Monday, February 1 at 10:00 a.m. in the Chapel. Contact Tamara Smathers with questions.

CHALK THE CHURCH On Wednesday, February 3 anytime from 5:00 until 6:30 p.m. families are invited to meet Kristen at the preschool playground entrance to receive chalk, and then find a place outside around FBC to write or draw a prayer for our church family.

DIG DEEPLY INTO THE GOSPEL OF MARK Sunday morning Bible Study will focus over the next 9 weeks on the good news of Christ through the Gospel of Mark and will culminate on Easter Sunday. Books are in the Narthex. Contact Tamara Smathers if you need help connecting to a Bible Study group.

HUNGER OFFERING Help meet the needs of the homeless and hungry by contributing to the monthly hunger offering. Please put this offering in an envelope and mark it “WORLD HUNGER” and place it in the offering plate during the offertory time of the service. We will not be able to receive offering at the doors, as we usually do. Our gifts support Meals and More, World Vision, and The CBF Global Missions Hunger Relief.

First Baptist Church, 100 East Fourth Avenue, Rome, GA 30161 Phone: 706.291.6850 Website: www.fbcrome.org

WELCOME

First Baptist Goal: $35,000 Given to Date: $8,920

January 31, 2021 11:00 a.m.

To help maintain a spirit of worship, please silence phones. We welcome a larger congregation through

Comcast Channel 44 and through the livestream over the church website and Facebook.

Preservice Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan Hill Chiming of the Hour Prelude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan Hill

“The Lord Is My Shepherd”...arr. Alice Jordan (Please use this time to prepare your heart for worship.)

Welcome to Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tara Inman, Chair of Deacons

Come to worship this day. Bring with you all your joys and sorrows. Jesus will offer hope. Come to worship this day believing in the power of God. Jesus will bring us healing. Come to worship this day feeling the presence of God. Jesus will teach us new ways to live. Amen. *Hymn of Praise No. 597 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SWEETEST NAME

“He Keeps Me Singing

There's within my heart a melody; Jesus whispers sweet and low, "Fear not, I am with you, peace, be still," in all of life's ebb and flow.

Refrain: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know,

fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.

All my life was wrecked by sin and strife, discord filled my heart with pain,

Jesus swept across the broken strings, stirred the slumbering chords again. [Refrain]

Though sometimes He leads through waters deep,

trials fall across the way; though sometimes the path seems rough and steep,

see His footprints all the way. [Refrain] Call to Confession No. 500 (Stanza 5). . . “Just As I Am”

Just as I am, You will receive, will welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, Because Your promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

A Time for Silent Confession of Sin

Assurance of Forgiveness The good news is that Christ calls us to new life and enables us to begin again and again and again. Let us praise God with songs of joy! Thanks be to God!

wELCOME CHURCH CALENDAR

*Reading of Holy Scripture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mark 1:21-28 Kristen Pope, reader

21They went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, He entered the

synagogue and taught. 22They were astounded at His teaching, for He taught them as one having

authority, and not as the scribes.

23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit,

24and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have

you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”

26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came

out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this?

A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits,

and they obey Him.” 28At once His fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of

Galilee.

Reader: The Word of the Lord. People: Thanks be to God.

*Gloria Patri (Hymn 704)

(Children ages four through fourth grade may depart for Children’s Worship.)

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen. Amen. A Time of Prayer for Healing

Choir: We cannot measure how You heal or answer every sufferer’s prayer,

yet we believe Your grace responds where faith and doubt unite to care. Your hands, though bloodied on the cross, survive to hold and heal and warn,

to carry all through death to life and cradle children yet unborn. All: Healing God, You came in the person of Jesus Christ to touch our world in its broken places, to restore, and to bless. Now come into our lives to heal our bodies from viruses, diseases, stresses, disorders, and injuries.

Congregation and Choir: The pain that will not go away, the guilt that clings from things long past,

the fear of what the future holds, are present as if meant to last. But present too is love which tends the hurt we never hoped to find,

the private agonies inside, the memories that haunt the mind. All: Bring healing into our relationships and mend our broken hearts. From words that have wounded, from betrayals and disappointments, help us to live into Your loving nature. Make us healers, too. In your name, Amen.

Congregation and Choir: So some have come who need Your help and some have come to make amends, as hands which shaped and saved the world are present in the touch of friends.

Lord, let your Spirit meet us here to mend the body, mind and soul, to disentangle peace from pain, and make your broken people whole.

Musical Offering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Choral Ensemble

“Down in the Valley to Pray”...arr. Jay Althouse As I went down in the valley to pray, studying about that good old way,

and who shall wear that starry crown, good Lord, show me the way. O sisters, let's go down, let's go down, come on down.

O sisters, let's go down, down in the valley to pray.

As I went down in the valley to pray, studying about that good old way, and who shall wear that robe and crown, good Lord, show me the way.

O brothers, let's go down, let's go down, come on down. O brothers, let's go down, down in the valley to pray.

I’ve got to walk that lonesome valley. I’ve got to walk it by myself.

Oh nobody else can walk it for me. I’ve got to walk it by myself. Sermon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Terry Ellis

“With A Word”

*Hymn of Commitment No. 584. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .LANDÅS “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place”

My faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed; I trust the ever-living One, His wounds for me shall plead.

Refrain: I need no other argument, I need no other plea,

it is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.

Enough for me that Jesus saves, this ends my fear and doubt; a sinful soul, I come to Him, He’ll never cast me out. [Refrain]

My great Physician heals the sick, the lost He came to save; for me his precious blood He shed, for me His life He gave. [Refrain]

*Prayer of Stewardship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tamara Tillman Smathers

Offertory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gwen Stephens

“Open My Eyes that I May See”...arr. Judith L. Maggs Meditation Text:

Silence, Lord, the unclean spirit in our mind and in our heart. Speak Your word that when we hear it, all our demons shall depart. Clear our thought and calm our feeling; still the fractured, warring soul. By the power of Your healing, make us faithful, true and whole.

—Thomas H. Troeger

The Work of the Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. Smathers *Pastoral Blessing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Uldrick Hymn of Commissioning No. 60 (Stanza 3). . . . . . . . . “Like a River Glorious”

Whether joy or trial falleth from above, traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love, we may trust Him fully all for us to do;

they who trust Him wholly, find Him wholly true. Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed; finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

*Postlude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joan Hill “O God, Our Help in Ages Past”…arr. Gordon Young

Worship Reminders

For those worshipping in the church building:

Masks must be worn at all times.

Please keep a social distance inside and outside the church building.

For emergencies, restrooms are available in the narthex or by taking the stairs in the narthex to the Fellowship Hall.

An offering will be received at the end of the service. Please bring your offering to the end of your pew and place it in the offering plate as the usher passes your pew.

Listening devices are available for those who have hearing difficulties. See an usher for details.

Joining First Baptist We receive new members in several ways. Those who have never publicly acknowledged Christ as Lord join by public profession of faith. Baptism is scheduled for a later date. Members of other Baptist congregations may transfer their membership to our congregation. We handle the details of contacting your current church. Members of other Christian faith traditions are invited to join by “statement of faith.” Because other traditions vary in belief and practice, those joining by statement of faith are invited to speak with a minister before joining so that they might answer questions.

Children’s Worship Children ages four through fourth grade are invited to Children’s Worship on the second floor of the Education Building. The children return to the sanctuary following worship.

Prayer Concerns (Please place in offering plate or hand to an usher or minister.) ____________________________________ ____________________________________

Matt DuVall, Pastor

Keith A. Reaves Senior Associate/Minister of Worship

Tamara Tillman Smathers Minister of Education/Administration

John H. Uldrick Minister to Students and Missions

Kristen Pope, Minister of Faith Development

Gwen Stephens Ministry Assistant/Interim Pianist

Joan Hill, Organist

A SERVICE OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP FOR YOUR INFORMATION