Mercer University Faculty/Staff Christian Fellowship (FSCF)

Let’s hear for the workers, family and the USA!
Happy Labor Day Family🇺🇸♥️🤍💙

To my Brothers and Sisters, Happy Labor Day Weekend. Be Safe and Be Blessed while you enjoy your families!

Dont forget to wish your dads & father figures in your life a very Happy Father’s Day!👔♥️

Hello Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
One of our church ministries at my church, “The FBBC Parents of Special Needs Children Ministry”, has been invited to be a vendor at the Education & Support Expo for Children and Young Adults with Disabilities in Macon. Please put this date on your calendar to stop by!!
We're asking friends to come out and support our ministry and this event.

Time Line of Holy Week
On Friday of Holy Week, Jesus was crucified. We can savor peace today because Jesus endured the cross for us. We may still feel conviction when we sin, but the weight of guilt is gone.
While we don’t savor that Jesus suffered, we can savor all that His suffering accomplished.
But if John’s Gospel had ended at chapter 19, Jesus would have been an exceptional character who made extraordinary claims. What sets Jesus apart from every other religious or moral teacher is His empty tomb.
Jesus first appeared in bodily form to a crying woman. When Mary heard her name, she knew it was the Lord. She likely prostrated herself at Jesus’s feet and held onto Him (Matt. 28:9). Jesus then sent her to declare His appearance to His “brothers” (John 20:17) referring to His disciples.
Jesus rose for Mary, and for you and me. Believing in Him brings us into the same kingdom family. Whether this week has included running toward Jesus or crying in confusion, we can rest our faith on the fact that Jesus is alive!
Let’s read John 20:19-21 (NLT) together.
That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
Jesus commissioned the disciples in the midst of their fears. We face our own brand of fear. Maybe our finances, health, or relationships have us locking the doors of our hearts. But Jesus speaks peace over us in the midst of troubling circumstances and sends us out in the power of the Holy Spirit with the message of forgiveness. We don’t need to wait until we’re fear-free to follow Jesus.
We can move toward greater faith as we review the first followers’ responses to the empty tomb. As you reflect on Holy Week, in what ways are you planning to spend time with Jesus this week?
WORK CITED
1. “Passion (n.),” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed Oct. 20, 2023. Available online at etymonline.com/word/passion.
Be Blessed my Brothers and Sisters on this Maundy-Thursdays leading up to Easter Resurrection Sunday!✝️✝️✝️

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone and first day of Lent! Love you All!🥰❤❤🥰
SO WHAT IS LENT?
Lent is the 40-day period preceding Easter that focuses on remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus. Sundays aren’t included, but it’s actually 46 days if you count them. This six-week period includes a renewed perspective on baptism, which often means a recommitment of faith. During Lent, people often fast or give up something special to them (perhaps a food indulgence), which is supposed to prepare their hearts and minds for Easter.
A similar time of fasting and prayer is seen in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament, when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days. Each “temptation” was a test of Jesus’s faith, an effort to get him to doubt that he was really the son of God or to renounce his devotion in exchange for wealth and glory. But instead of succumbing to temptation, Jesus answered Satan each time by quoting Scripture from the Old Testament. As the story goes, the Devil then left, and the angels surrounded Jesus as he began preparing for his ministry.
That’s where the Lenten fast comes in. It hearkens back to these ideas of temptation and sacrifice, and its goal is to help Christians achieve a deeper understanding of their faith. Instead of a 40-day fast, however, Christians might engage in shorter fasts or abstain from things they particularly love, like soda, alcohol, desserts or social media. When they feel hungry or miss the thing they’re abstaining from, they should acknowledge that and turn to prayer and the Bible.
Lent always begins on Ash Wednesday, and Lent 2024 falls on Feb. 14. On this February holiday, you will notice many people walking around with ashes in the shape of a cross on their forehead, a mark that symbolizes death and repentance. Many churches hold an Ash Wednesday service, during which the priest or pastor will dip a finger into ashes and mark a cross on each congregant’s forehead, saying, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” A second admonition offers a reminder to stay on the right path: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.
Symbolically, the end of Lent is the day Jesus celebrated his final Passover, the day before Jesus was crucified (which was the Thursday before Good Friday). During this time, Jesus ate the Last Supper with his disciples, washed their feet and gave them a mandate to love one another. This is where the word maundy comes from—it’s an abbreviated form of mandatum in Latin, which means command. Many churches offer a Maundy Thursday service, during which their congregants can take communion and observe or take part in a foot-washing ceremony.

Verse of the Day
So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Luke 11:9 - NIV

Personal Bible reading plan
The following chapters are planned for you to read today.

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Proverbs The most popular Bible verses from the Bible book Proverbs. Mark the chapters you have read, if you join our personal Bible reading plan.

Verse of the Day
As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 - NIV