EVANGEL the
Easter 2023 at First Free
Palm Sunday, April 2nd
• Full 9:30am Bible Fellowship Hour
• Worship Service @ 10:45am
• Full Junior Church and Nursery
Student Ministry Support Luncheon following Worship
Wednesday, April 5th
• No Connect
Friday, April 7th
• Good Friday Service 7:00 - 8:00pm
Easter Sunday, April 9th
• No 9:30am Bible Fellowship Hour
• Worship Service @ 10:45 am
• No Children's Church
• Nursery - through age 4will be available during worship
Your “Authentic Self”
By Pastor Kirk AlbrechtWe hear a lot these days about being true to yourself, living your own truth, and expressing your “authen9c self.” Children are learning in school that you can be literally whoever you want to be. Many baby boomers are mys9fied by the use of neutral or newly-created pronouns to use when we speak of someone, eschewing common labels of “him” or “her”.
Who is my “authen9c self”? Is being true to myself really my highest virtue?
The Bible speaks to these issues in profound ways. In crea9on, God makes humans “in the image of God.” Men and women are endowed with capacity and iden9ty shared by no other creatures. There is a link with the Creator that is fundamental in self-awareness. I am more than a blob of cells or proteins. I am not a mistake. I was craHed by a loving, intelligent and good God (cf. Psalm 139).
Easter 2023 Flower Orders
Each year we display spring flowers in our auditorium as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday! You are welcome to purchase flowers and can also purchase them in honor of or in memory of a loved one.
Here’s a sneak peek of this years
Easter flower options:
Easter Lilies $9
Tulips $9
Hyacinths $9
Flower orders and payments can be made on Sunday mornings in the Main Lobby, or online, from March 12th until March 26th.
Following our worship service on Easter Sunday your flowers may be picked up at the front of the auditorium. If planted outside, your flowers should bloom again next spring! If you have any questions regarding Easter flower orders, please contact the Church Office at 412-678-6655.
(Your “Authentic Self” continued)
In forming us according to his image, God endows us with sexuality and gender in crea9on – male and female. He writes it into our gene9c code, and imprints it onto our physical bodies when we are conceived. All crea9on God saw was good – his crea9on of Adam and Eve on the 6th day was “very good.” There was no ambiguity but only joy when you first held that boy or girl in your arms for the first 9me, marveling at this liUle life so fearfully and wonderfully made.
Beyond crea9on, as Chris9ans, my “authen9c self” springs from my iden9ty as a follower of Jesus. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians ch.4 directs believers to “put on the new self.” He contrasts what we used to be and the ways we lived before we knew Christ as Savior and Lord with what God now calls us to be since we are no longer who we once were. The contrast is striking and clear.
The hallmark of Christ followers is that we die to self and live to Christ. He said if we don’t do that, we cannot be his disciples. In iden9ty we are made new; from our new iden9ty flows a new set of values and desires, since our former desires are corrupt, and can’t be trusted.
The ways the world and our culture encourage us to define ourselves are oHen at odds with what the Scriptures reveal as God’s view of us – his special crea9on (Genesis 1:27), and as Chris9ans, his children (John 1:12). Any other descrip9on or self-understanding needs to make sure it is in line with God’s perspec9ve.
Do you define yourself in some way that makes you the center of your life? Or do you find freedom and hope in being a disciple of Jesus, one who listens to his word because you love him supremely? (John 14:15). When we stray from God’s view, we do harm to ourselves, and mar his crea9on and re-crea9on of us in his image.
May you find all you need – and all you desire – in Jesus!
