It Is Well With My Soul – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye – September 15, 2024
Reading of Scripture, Mark 8:22-38, by Mrs. Sandy Chambers
Author: admin
About admin
Posts by :
SUNDAY IS COMIN’. BUT SATURDAY COMES FIRST
Good Thursday afternoon!
Hope you are well on this rainy day! I know the grass is – and the trees and the flowers and the birds and insects and the animals – and us too! Our prayers are with all those who are experiencing flooding and storms…… but, at the same time, what a nice thing to hear the rain on the roof!
So, Sunday IS comin’. But Saturday comes first. And I am so excited about our planning retreat. As you know, it is from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM at Jim and my house.
admin / Rev. Martha's Blog / 0
I JUST DON’T GET IT.
A good Friday afternoon to everyone!
It’s a beautiful day – cool and overcast and breezy. It’s almost a perfect day…… I’m still praying it’s going to rain! That would make it perfect!
Perfect as far as the weather goes. I don’t think any of us have felt this week that anything is perfect. When I heard about the school shooting in Winder I immediately thought of a couple in my church in Pine Mountain. About three years before Jim and I got there, they lost their son to a school shooting. Jamie was a professor at Virginia Tech – a brilliant, kind, funny, sweet boy who grew into a wonderful man who was there one day and gone the next. His parents were devastated. And every time they hear about yet another life lost to gun violence, their grief is multiplied over and over. There have been 416 school shootings since Columbine. The shooting at Apalachee in Winder was the 23rd in 2024.
admin / Rev. Martha's Blog / 0
The Inner Worship of the Human Heart
The Inner Worship of the Human Heart – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye – September 1, 2024
Reading of Scripture – Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 – by Rev. Linda Hessel
[Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 NRSV]
1 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles. ) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’ 8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
GETTING BACK TO NORMAL
Hello Everyone!
It’s Friday….. but Sunday’s comin’!! And this Sunday is our “get back to normal Sunday”. It’s been a great, great summer, a fun and spiritual campmeeting summer. A Pentecost summer! Now with September comes our (little bit) more formal service. We will be visiting the book of Mark this fall, learning what Mark must teach us about the life and teachings of Jesus. And we will challenge ourselves to keep on growing toward Christ, in all we do and all we say – even in all we think! It’s gonna’ be a great fall!
admin / Rev. Martha's Blog / 0
BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE!
Good Friday Afternoon!
Well, we have officially made it through our Campmeeting Summer! I have loved it! I hope you have too! Great gospel music from The Walkers, the informal services, the music, the Bingo and cornhole, the patriotic Sunday, the guest speakers, the WACUM Sunday, the movie night, the walk through the first part of Acts as we looked at the early church. It was all great! And I think we enjoyed each other’s company and that we honored God in some exciting ways.
But wait, there is more! (Sounds like an infomercial, doesn’t it?)
admin / Rev. Martha's Blog / 0
I LOVE FALL, ALWAYS HAVE.
Happy Friday!
Didn’t we have a great Homecoming Sunday last week…. that August rite of passage in the church!
But before we can turn around, it’s going to be September! Little bits of crisp air and apples and new school clothes….. and FOOTBALL!!! I love fall, always have. It is the season when I was born into this world. It always brings back wonderful childhood memories. And I still love it……….. even though around the church it means meetings and paperwork and reports that must get done.
admin / Rev. Martha's Blog / 0
Homecoming
Campmeeting Summer (June 2, 2024 ~ August 25, 2024)
Homecoming with Speakers – Dr. Brock Garrett, June Richards Musick,
Anne McBride, Julie Lindsey and Martha Arnold
Comments by Rev. Martha Dye on August 11, 2024
Reading of Scripture – Matthew 16:13-19 – by Mrs. Stacey Thornton
[Matthew 16:13-19 NIV] 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
“Permissions.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 13 March, 2023.
The Greatest of All Time
Campmeeting Summer (June 2, 2024 ~ August 25, 2024)
The Greatest of All Time – Sermon by Rev. Martha Dye – August 4, 2024
Reading of Scripture – Acts 6:8-15 & 7:55-60 – by Mrs. Diane Nicholson
[Acts 6:8-15 NIV] 8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)–Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia–who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. 11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
WE ARE AS HAPPY AS WE ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE!
Good Morning
Hope everyone is well and having a wonderful Wednesday! I heard somewhere that we are as happy as we allow ourselves to be! Here’s an example. Jim left this morning before daylight to go to Montgomery. He called me at 7 to share with me that he had seen the most amazing sunrise in his rear view mirror. He said the sun was RED! And it made him realize that no matter what……. This is a beautiful world! And all is well! He made me smile!! Like I said, we are about as happy as we allow ourselves to be!
Love you all!
Rev. Martha
admin / Rev. Martha's Blog / 0
GOD IS WITH YOU
Good Saturday Morning!
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.
When the world is tossing me,
like a ship upon the sea,
thou who rulest wind and water,
stand by me.
Charles Albert Tindley wrote this song in 1905. I learned it out of “The Green Book” while I was pastor and Sonny (whose face I can see but whose last name I cannot remember) was choir director at Redwine UMC in Hart County. It came to mind a little after 8 the other night when I was sleeping in front of the TV oblivious to the outside world….. and all of a sudden I was awakened to absolute darkness and a feeling that something just wasn’t right. And indeed, soon the firetruck was parked outside the house, a yellow ribbon cordoned off Spring Street, and, it was true…… something was not right. I looked down the street and saw the power lines at a 45% angle from where they should have been. A huge oak tree had fallen across the street in the raging wind. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But it would be 12 hours later when the power was back.
admin / Rev. Martha's Blog / 0
A VISION OF PEACE
Greetings Whitesburg UMC!
I’ve spent the afternoon watching the opening ceremonies for the Paris Olympics. I didn’t mean to. I just meant to turn it on for a minute. But I got completely engrossed! It was beautiful! The youth, the athletes, the strength, the flag, the torch, the music, the city, the Seine River, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the history and emotion all played out in a rain that would not stop. For about two weeks every four years, we have the opportunity if we choose to take our minds off politics and war and division and the little complications of life……………… and turn it toward hope and strength and determination and FUN! We get to see athletes from all over the world, of all colors, of all nationalities, of all genders, come together and do what they love to do, to compete in the sport in which they excel.
We get to be a part of a vision of peace. Even if it’s only for a little while.
admin / Rev. Martha's Blog / 0
God is Love
Testimony by Rev. Martha Dye – (Edited from Rev. Dye’s Sermon at the Community Thanksgiving Service on Nov. 19, 2023)
admin / Testimonies / 0
Flood Buckets and God
Testimony by Sherri Johnson
admin / Testimonies / 0
He’s Everything to Me
Testimony by Reverend’s Linda and Darryl Hessel
admin / Testimonies / 0
Surely I Know the Plans I Have for You
Testimony by Rev. Jan Tolbert
[Jeremiah 29:10-14 NASB20] 10 “For this is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ‘And you will seek Me and find [Me] when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 ‘I will let Myself be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’
admin / Testimonies / 0
The Greatest Man I Never Knew
Testimony by Diane Nicholson
[Proverbs 23:22-25 NASB20] 22 Listen to your father, who fathered you, And do not despise your mother when she is old. 23 Buy truth, and do not sell [it,] [Get] wisdom, instruction, and understanding. 24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. 25 Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
admin / Testimonies / 1