You are invited to join us on a spiritual adventure!

Prime Timers is a St. Martin's Adult Bible Fellowship (A.B.F.) geared towards people in the Prime of Life, ages 50-64. We meet in the Payne Education Center in rooms 207-209 from 10:15am to 10:50. Our course this year is authored by the United Council of Churches, our current quarter is a unit titled Images of Christ.

Come on in to St. Martin's Adult Bible Fellowships! Its cool inside!

You can't do better than our reading in July, from the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John! If you can't wait, the reading for next week is at the bottom of this page!

Eternal Christ

All the St. Martin's A.B.F.'s did not meet this week so that we could hear a wonderful talk by our parishioner Judge Jay Karahan on the subject "The Faith of Our Founding Fathers." Judge Karahan described the actions of our "Founding Grandfathers" that led our Founding Fathers to create a nation where all faiths can worship as they choose. Did you know that at one time you be executed for professing the "wrong" faith! What follows here is what happened last week in Prime Timers.

Prime Timers always begins by hearing our members Good News. Donn contributed his dollar because he forgot last week when he told us about visiting the Grand Tetons!

Donn Fullenweider taught the Prime Timers today on the subject of "The Eternal Christ."  This can be summed up simply with the passage from Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Donn reminded us that Jesus was crucified outside the walls of the city. When the Romans conquered a city they respected the existing religions, but dealt harshly with new ones, such as the Christians. This explains the Romans being complicit with the Jews in dealing with the Christians.

Jesus gives us an imperative to love, but as he says in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:46 "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" It is important to receive the message to love your neighbors as yourself. Today, as in ancient times, we have a fear of strangers, and overcoming this is not an easy task. After 9/11 this country "battened the hatches" and fear or suspicion of strangers increased. Add this to the "me first" culture of getting all you can and whoever has the most toys wins and Jesus directive is more difficult still.

Donn read this passage from Psalms 118:5-9:

⁵ In my anguish I cried to the LORD,
and he answered by setting me free.

⁶ The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

⁷ The LORD is with me; he is my helper.
I will look in triumph on my enemies.

⁸ It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.

⁹ It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.

Donn asked the class if we had examples of things being different now from when we were young. The internet is an example. It is a force that can work toward great good or foster great evil. Our modern drugs can alleviate suffering and actually cure diseases that would have been death sentences just a short while ago, but drugs can also be abused and lead to terrible dependence. Air conditioning is a change we appreciate in Texas especially! It is difficult to imagine living without it, although some class members described childhood memories of how you had to dress appropriately for the heat, and how it made activities other than cooling off secondary. Its just too hot!!! Who has energy for other things?

Before ending class Donn mentioned the writings of A. W. Tozer, the Protestant preacher and author.

"To the earth-walking Christian,
ankle-deep in dust,
who has never seen heaven opened
or beheld a vision of God,
this will seem all out of order, too
emotional, too extreme.

But it is the way of the strong
eagles of the kingdom, the prophets,
the apostles, the reformers and revivalists.

These fly high and see far,
and that they are not understood
is no great wonder.

The sky-loving eagle,
screaming in the sun, may be a
puzzle to the contented
biddy scratching in the yard,

but that is no good
argument against the eagle."

Wingspread by A.W. Tozer

Donn concluded class with a prayer.

The Lesson for Sunday, July 13th is "Christ as Healer"

Key Verse:  Mark 1:34

Focus of the Lesson: Many people are looking to be made whole. To whom can they turn for healing? Faith in the power of Jesus Christ will lead to wholeness, though not necessarily a physical cure.

The reading is Mark 1:29-45. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

     ²⁹As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. ³⁰Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. ³¹So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

   ³²That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. ³³The whole town gathered at the door, ³⁴and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place

   ³⁵Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. ³⁶Simon and his companions went to look for him, ³⁷and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"

   ³⁸Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." ³⁹So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

A Man With Leprosy

   ⁴⁰A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

   ⁴¹Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" ⁴²Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

   ⁴³Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: ⁴⁴"See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." ⁴⁵Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

NIV