ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY: Yesterday, Today and Forever

Sunday, April 29, 2012 was an historic day in the life of First Presbyterian Church, Pascagoula, Mississippi. We celebrated our 122nd anniversary with two incredibly moving worship services, held an all-day prayer vigil, and came together for a potluck dinner at 5 p.m.


Following dinner, the congregation moved to the sanctuary for a Congregational Meeting to be conducted by the Committee on Consultation of the Presbytery of Mississippi.  At this meeting, the congregation voted 188 - 16 (12 no votes and 4 abstentions) to approve the Session's Recommendation to the Congregation of First Presbyterian Church (USA), Pascagoula, Mississippi to dissolve its relationship with the Presbyterian Church (USA) to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). 


FPC's request for dismissal from the Presbytery of Mississippi will be received at Presbytery's next regular meeting on May 17, 2012, to be held at First Presbyterian Church in Ocean Springs.


The Rev. Matt Mitchell's sermon on this remarkable Sunday reflected on the sovereign influence of God in the life of our congregation throughout its history, and into the future. The scripture lesson for the day was Hebrews 13:1-8.


To listen to this sermon, click on the following link:
Yesterday, Today and Forever

Hebrews 13

Concluding Exhortations

 ¹ Keep on loving each other as brothers. ² Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. ³ Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

 ⁴ Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. ⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

   “Never will I leave you;
   never will I forsake you.”^[a]

 ⁶ So we say with confidence,

   “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
   What can man do to me?”^[b]

 ⁷ Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Footnotes:

1. Hebrews 13:5 Deut. 31:6
2. Hebrews 13:6 Psalm 118:6,7

FOUNDATION SERIES: The War Within

Sunday, April 22, Rev. Matt Mitchell continued the Foundation Series with a look at Romans 7:7-25.

To listen to this sermon, click on the link below:
The War Within

Romans 7:7-25

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

Struggling With Sin

⁷ What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”^{[a] 8} But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. ⁹ Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. ¹⁰ I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. ¹³ Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[b] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
²¹ So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Footnotes:

1. Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21
2. Romans 7:18 Or my flesh

FOUNDATION SERIES: "Delivered"

Rev. Matt Mitchell returned to his Foundation Series on the book of Romans on Sunday, April 15, with the message Delivered, based on Romans 7:1-6.

To listen to this sermon, click the following link:
Delivered

Romans 7

An Illustration From Marriage

¹ Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know the law—that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? ² For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. ³ So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
⁴ So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. ⁵ For when we were controlled by the sinful nature,^[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. ⁶ But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Footnotes:

1. Romans 7:5 Or the flesh; also in verse 25

EASTER Sunday:He is Risen!

On Easter Sunday, April 8, Rev. Matt Mitchell celebrated the conclusion of the Lenten Series, "The Last Seven Days of Christ" with a message entitled "He is Risen!" The scripture basis for this message was Matthew 28:1-10.

To listen to this message, click the following link:
He is Risen!

Matthew 28

The Resurrection

¹ After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
⁸ So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Lenten Series: The Irony of it All

On Sunday, April 1, Rev. Matt Mitchell continued his Lenten Series on The Last Seven Days of Christ with a message based on March 15:1-15.

To listen to this sermon, click the following link:
The Irony of it All

Mark 15:1-15

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

Mark 15

Jesus Before Pilate

 ¹ Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. ² “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
   “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.
 ³ The chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴ So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”
 ⁵ But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
 ⁶ Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. ⁷ A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. ⁸ The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
 ⁹ “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, ¹⁰ knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. ¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
 ¹² “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
 ¹³ “Crucify him!” they shouted.
 ¹⁴ “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
   But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
 ¹⁵ Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Lenten Series: The Hour of Betrayal

On Sunday, March 25, Rev. Matt Mitchell continued his Lenten Series on The Last Seven Days of Christ with a message based on March 14:43-52.

To listen to this message, click the link below:
The Hour of Betrayal

Mark 14:43-52

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

Jesus Arrested

 ⁴³ Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders. ⁴⁴ Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.” ⁴⁵ Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. ⁴⁶ The men seized Jesus and arrested him. ⁴⁷ Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
   ⁴⁸ “Am I leading a rebellion,” said Jesus, “that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? ⁴⁹ Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.” ⁵⁰ Then everyone deserted him and fled.
 ⁵¹ A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, ⁵² he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.

Lenten Series: Extravagant Love

On Sunday, March 18, Rev. Matt Mitchell continued the Lenten Series, The Last 7 Days of Christ, with the sermon Extravagant Love, based on Mark 14:1-11.

To listen to this sermon, click on the following link:
Extravagant Love

Mark 14:1-11

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

Mark 14

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

¹ Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. ² “But not during the Feast,” they said, “or the people may riot.” ³ While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
⁴ Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? ⁵ It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages^[a] and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.
⁶ “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷ The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. ⁸ She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. ⁹ I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
¹⁰ Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. ¹¹ They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Footnotes:

1. Mark 14:5 Greek than three hundred denarii