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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!

Our readings in June are from Hebrews, from a new lesson plan titled "Images of Christ in Hebrew's." If you can't wait, the reading for next week is at the bottom of this page!

Christ as Leader 

Prime Timers always begins by hearing our members Good News. Donn gave thanks for the Grand Tetons, where he spent some vacation time.

Donn Fullenweider conducted class today, with our reading in Hebrews of "Christ as Leader." He noted that the reading begins with "therefore," indicating that the reading is a conclusion.  And indeed chapter 11 in Hebrews contains various examples of faith, concluding in chapter 12 with Christ as the ultimate example of faith. Donn describes four themes in the chapter:  Jesus leadership, running with perseverance, discipline and commissioning. Athletic metaphors are used to make the point. Belief in Christ as leader is kind of like preparing for a great race.

For a big race, first you need to exercise regularly, kind of like the Christian habit of daily prayer. Then your prepare psychologically, you get "psyched up" for the race. Donn gave the example of his son preparing for a big football game, playing and re-playing the theme to "Rocky" in his room. Faith in the Lord likewise requires that we be in the right frame of mind, that we keep the ultimate goal in mind.

Then there is the selection of a coach. In our case the selection is obvious! For a long race you need to decide what to carry. You need water unless its provided, for instance, and carrying a lot of "stuff" will just slow you down. Likewise our journey in Christianity requires us to leave behind some "spiritual baggage." If you want to win a race you need to get the proper nourishment of course, and as Christians we need spiritual nourishment.

For our race we need to accept the discipline of the coach. Coaches can push us to deliver our best and encourage us to "break through" to greater efforts, or to keep our momentum when our will is flagging. Accepting Christ as leader does not do us much good if we don't accept his authority.

Probably the biggest hurdle in our race is self-discipline, the ability to keep our promises to ourselves. And lastly of course:  practice, practice, practice! If we don't practice our Christian faith what's the point?

Donn concluded class with a prayer.

The Lesson for Sunday, June 29th is "The Eternal Christ"

Key Verse:  Hebrews 13:8

Focus of the Lesson: In a world of rapid change, people seek stability and permanence. Where can we find such grounding? God gave Jesus eternal life so that humans would have a firm foundation for living in relationship to God and others.

The reading is Hebrews 13:1-16. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

Background Scripture:  Hebrews 13:1-16

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

   ⁴Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. ⁵Keep 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."
   ⁶So we say with confidence,
   "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
    What can man do to me?"

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

   ⁹Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. ¹⁰We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

   ¹¹The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. ¹²And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. ¹³Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. ¹⁴For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

   ¹⁵Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. ¹⁶And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

NIV