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Thoughts from Pastor Pierce
Jesus said in the garden of Gethsemane, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Mark 14: 38. He reminds us that without effort to concentrate and pay attention, our intention will fall short. Not being sharp while driving may bring about an accident. We can get engrossed in something for ourselves while our spiritual life goes down.
"I know I should get to church" gets lost in "I had such a busy week that I'll miss going to church today." One of the chief lead-ins for the devil to separate us from the LORD our God, is over indulgence of ourselves.
Peter, John, and James were so involved in their sorrow at Jesus' words about His coming sorrow that they neglected their prayer for help for Jesus. Jesus was getting His strength and courage to submit to death for our sins from prayer with His heavenly Father. Settled with the necessity of earning forgiveness of sins for us, Jesus' spirit is willing to go ahead with a disposition of mind to bear in His flesh the suffering and death that ends the separation between His heavenly Father and us. When the disciples fall apart and rush away from Jesus because their nature was weak, their spoken desire to die with Him went out the window.
Jesus, however, allowed Judas to betray Him and soldiers to arrest Him. He is tried and crucified as the council of the Jews and of the Roman court decided. Humiliated by death on the cross, Jesus knows the damnation and pain for sin will soon be over, never to return to His body and life again. His Father glorified Jesus by raising Him from the dead. His grace unites our body and life, our flesh and our spirit, in faith with Him during our remaining days on earth, and in endurance with Him until He takes us to Himself in heaven. Through the apostles Paul, this victory is summarized in the Bible verse: "There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." We hope to see you at worship on Sundays and on the remaining four Wednesday Lenten services as well.
Call List Arrived
Twelve names have been submitted by District for the call list for a pastor for St. Paul’s. At this time the Board of Elders is reviewing the list, and will be contacting the congregation about the next step in the process of finding a pastor.
At this time no date has been set for a call meeting. According to the constitution, ten days are required between the first notice to the members and the call meeting.
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