Yes! Its the St. Martin's Prime Timers Web Page!

Please join us each Sunday in the Payne Education Center from 10:10am to 10:50 in rooms 207-209. However, January 29 all the A.B.F. classes are suspended so that we can all attend the Annual Parish Meeting in the Parish Hall at 10:15am. You can still follow the readings scheduled for this week at the end of this page.

Caroline Maryan substituted for husband Skip while he was on a college tour with their daughter.

Announcements

February is a good time to join the Prime Timers! In addition to finding out who our mentor will be, as Rev. Rusty Goldsmith retired this Sunday, we get to create a "float" for our new mentor at the Shrove Tuesday Pancake breakfast (February 28). Caroline Maryan has some ideas, just look at the hat in the picture above!

Henny Penny's Sky is Opening Up!

At the beginning of a Prime Timers class, time is set aside to hear good news from our members. The catch is that it costs $1 you need to feed our chicken, Henny Penny.

Max Kech spent time at Rusk Elementary reading to Juanita Juarez and tells us she had a wonderful time. Rusk Elementary is one of our suggested outreach missions.

Setting a Good Example

Rita Junker-Pickar led the class through 1 Timothy 4 with comments on each section of the reading. The first five verses describe how some will abandon the teachings of Jesus and follow "deceiving spirits."

Verse six says that to be a good minister you must point out these false teachings to your people.

Verses seven through ten tell us to train ourselves in Godly ways, as our hope is in our Savior. The use of athletic metaphors, like physical training, lend weight to the theory that it was Paul who wrote the books of Timothy, since his own writings use this style.

Eleven through sixteen asks us to set an example for others by our actions. It also contains the phrase "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young" (1 Timothy 4:12) and Rita gave an example from her law practice where people were fine with her on the phone but when they saw her face to face were more hesitant. This was in the early days of her practice. I think everyone can remember a situation where our efforts were belittled due to being young!

Is there a distinction between preaching and teaching? Preaching is a form of teaching where the students are exhorted, where teaching alone concentrates on explaining.

Back to the reading we are then exhorted not to neglect the gifts we are given. Everyone has heard the expression use it or lose it! It only makes sense that we should do what we are especially able to do.

By following these rules we benefit not only ourselves but others as well.

Rita's references this week first involve the athletic allusions in Timothy (the texts come from the New International Version NIV):

1 Corinthians 9:21-25 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Philippians 3:12-14  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1-3  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Prime Timers Contact names and numbers

Mentor

To be announced in February!

Leader

This was the last service for our mentor, the Rev. Rusty Goldsmith. He is retiring from the ministry. We all wish him well and look to see him return often.

Rita Junker-Pickar taught the class today

Max Kech did an Outreach Ministry at Rusk Elementary.

And in support of the idea that the deceiving spirits are bad for you:

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."

2 Thessalonians 3:6-10  In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

The subject of false teachings and what is the right example is a hot topic and the discussion brought and example of how disagreement over this can lead to bloodshed, or schisms that create new Christian denominations.

Max Kech led the class in the healing prayer, and Caroline Maryan gave a benediction and dismissed the class.

 The Lesson for Sunday, January 29th is titled "Practicing Justice and Mercy"

Key Verse:  1 Timothy 5:1-2

Focus of the Lesson:  People want not only to be treated fairly but also to receive mercy. How can we show both justice and mercy? Paul advises Timothy on how to be just and merciful, particularly in regard to the older and younger members of the church and to widows.

The reading is 1 Timothy 5:1-8, 17-24. This text is from the New International Version^®.

   1 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

   3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. 6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. 7 Give the people these instructions, too, so that no one may be open to blame. 8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

1 Timothy 5:17-24

   17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain," and "The worker deserves his wages." 19 Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. 20 Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.

   21 I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.

   22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

   23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

   24 The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them.

NIV®