Sunday, May 24, 2026
Bible Readings for May 24, 2026
Mission Yearbook: Students, church leaders and alumni gather to celebrate 25 years of UKirk Tallahassee
Saturday, May 23, 2026
Prayers for Our Community, Our Nation and Our World
Bible Readings for May 25-31, 2026
Bible Readings for May 23, 2026
Friday, May 22, 2026
Mission Yearbook: Ministers benefit from CREDO
Prayer Requests to be shared during Sunday’s service
On Sunday, May 24, Sligo Presbyterian Church will lift to God the needs below.
- Adam & Shaina Hile
- Antonio Jimenez
- Bade Mohn
- Barbara Yarchuk
- Betty Phillips
- Betty Terwint
- Bob Varner
- Brooke
- Butch, Cass's brother
- Cara Maguire Defibaugh
- Carla Hepler
- Cathy Hale
- Corbin
- Dan Wallace
- Denny Myers
- Don Free and Family
- Duane Quinn
- Eddie Conner
- Evelyn Barkafelt
- Fred Summerville
- Gabe
- Gavin Blazosky
- Jane
- Jason
- Jayden Shorts
- Jeb Rapp
- Jeff Raybuck
- Jerry & Tracy Hawks
- Jim Mahle
- Jim Mason
- Joann Klamer
- Joe Amaato
- Joe Rainey
- Karen Defibaugh
- Kaylyn Bashline
- Kirby McCall
- Lana Todd
- Landdon Chalmers
- Len Gaulin
- Levi Jack
- Mary Young
- Mason Martin
- Matt
- Mike Curran
- Nancy Blauser
- Pamela
- Patty Divins
- Rev. Bruce & Fab Gander
- Robin Marlow
- Ron & Shelly Haines
- Ron Lerch
- Rowan Pinson
- Rudy
- Ryan Cornecki & Family
- Sam & Carol Mason
- Tadd French
- TJ
- Tyler & Tamlynn
- Valerie Haight and family
- Van Watkins
- Vickie White Templin
- Wes Summerville
- William Ford
- Zach Schieberl
From Easter to Pentecost (The Coming of the Spirit in John - John 20:19-31)
- April 23 - Easter (Mark 16:1-8; Matthew 28:1-10; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-18)
- April 30 - Two Endings in Mark (Mark 16:9-19)
- May 7 - The Commission in Matthew (Matthew 28:11-20)
- May 14 - Two Appearances in Luke (Luke 24:13-49)
- May 21 - The Coming of the Spirit in John (John 20:19-31)
- June 4 - The Commission in John (John 21:1-25)
- June 11 - From the Ascension to the Spirit in Luke and Acts (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-26)
In our fifth session, we looked at the coming of the Spirit in John (John 20:19-31). The discussion and passage are below.
John 20:19-31 [New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition]
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
Bible Readings for May 22, 2026
Thursday, May 21, 2026
The Program and Bulletin for the SPC Worship Service - Sunday, May 24, 2026
On July 4, we'll celebrate our 250th anniversary as a country. And even though we haven’t been perfect, we’ve served as an example of freedom for the rest of the world. But as important as that is, the Bible teaches that true freedom is a spiritual reality found through Jesus Christ that transforms how individuals live, serve, and interact with the world. With that in mind, during the six weeks between Pentecost and Independence Day, we’ll explore six key things the Bible says about our freedom in Christ:
- May 24 Freedom That’s Empowered
- May 31 Freedom That’s Liberating
- June 7 Freedom That’s Enlightened
- June 14 Freedom That’s Limited
- June 21 Freedom That’s Active
- June 28 Freedom That’s Challenging
Since Sunday, May 24 is Pentecost, we'll discuss how our freedom in Christ is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Below is the bulletin and program for the service. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EDT). You can hear a podcast of the service at the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Spotify Page.
Bible Readings for May 21, 2026
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
On the Road from Jerusalem: A Study of Acts (A Message to God’s People - Acts 26:1-32)
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- Session 1 - Preparing for the Journey (Acts 1:1-2)
- Session 2 - Transition (Acts 1:3-26)
- Session 3 - Birth (Acts 2:1-47)
- Session 4 - The Work Begins (Acts 3:1-26)
- Session 5 - When Faced with Opposition (Acts 4:1-37)
- Session 6 - But... (Acts 5:1-42)
- Session 7 - Problem Solved (Acts 6:1-15)
- Session 8 - When Something Bad Happens (Acts 7:1-60)
- Session 9 - Step Two (Acts 8:1-40)
- Session 10 - Saul (Acts 9:1-43)
- Session 11 - Clean People (Acts 10:1-48)
- Session 12 - Phase Three Begins (Acts 11:1-30)
- Session 13 - Even Above Kings (Acts 12:1-25)
- Session 14 - The New Kid Takes the Stage (Acts 13:1-52)
- Session 15 - Approaching a New Community (Acts 14:1-28)
- Session 16 - Issue Resolved (Acts 15:1-41)
- Session 17 - A New World (Acts 16:1-40)
- Session 18 - Know Your Audience (Acts 17:1-34)
- Session 19 - The Big Time (Acts 18:1-28)
- Session 20 - Christ and Culture (Acts 19:1-41)
- Session 21 - Farewell (Acts 20:1-38)
- Session 22 - Jerusalem (Acts 21:1-40)
- Session 23 - A Personal Testimony (Acts 22:1-30)
- Session 24 - The Plot Thickens (Acts 23:1-35)
- Session 25 - The Way Continues (Acts 24:1-27)
- Session 26 - Different Singer, Same Song (Acts 25:1-27)
- Session 27 - A Message to God’s People (Acts 26:1-32)
- Session 28 - Will He Make It (Acts 27:1-44)
- Session 29 - Without Hindrance (Acts 28:1-31)
In our twenty-seventh session, we looked at Acts 26:1-32 and discussed Paul's sermon before Herod Agrippa in Caesarea. The discussion and passage are below.
Acts 26:1-32 [New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition]
Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began to defend himself:
“All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, a life spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I have belonged to the strictest sect of our religion and lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial on account of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors, a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship day and night. It is for this hope, Your Excellency, that I am accused by Jews! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?
“Indeed, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. By punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to force them to blaspheme, and since I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.
“After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: that the Messiah must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the gentiles.”
Then the king got up and with him the governor and Bernice and those who had been seated with them, and as they were leaving they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to the emperor.”
Bible Readings for May 20, 2026
Mission Yearbook: Seattle youth pastor says keys to discernment are consistency and community
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
The Sligo Presbyterian Church Celebration Service - Sunday, May 17, 2026
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- April 19 - The Foundation of the Resurrection (15:1-11)
- April 26 - Why the Resurrection Matters (15:12-19)
- May 3 - The Order of the Resurrection (15:20-34)
- May 10 - The Resurrected Body (15:35-49)
- May 17 - Victory and Application (15:50-58)
In the final message, we focused on 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and discussed how our resurrection represents victory. Below is a video of the service, a presentation of the sermon, and the bulletin & program for the service. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EDT). You can hear a podcast of the service at the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Spotify Page.
Sunday's Message - Victory and Application (15:50-58)
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- April 19 - The Foundation of the Resurrection (15:1-11)
- April 26 - Why the Resurrection Matters (15:12-19)
- May 3 - The Order of the Resurrection (15:20-34)
- May 10 - The Resurrected Body (15:35-49)
- May 17 - Victory and Application (15:50-58)
On Sunday, we focused on 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and discussed how our resurrection represents victory. Below are a YouTube video and the text of the sermon. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EDT). You can hear a podcast of the service at the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Spotify Page.
Of course, as a fan of both the Indianapolis Colts and the Pittsburgh Steelers, my primary interest didn’t really involve games overseas, which, by the way, the Colts are playing in London and the Steelers in Paris. No, there were two reasons I was drawn to the schedule. First, I wanted to see if the Colts and Steelers were playing one another, which they are on October 11 in Pittsburgh. But second, and this was probably the most important, I wanted to see if I could figure out how many wins there were on the schedules. And to tell you the truth, for my two teams, well, it doesn’t look half bad. I mean, they get to play both the Browns and the Titans; and because of that, their strength of schedule is pretty low. Of course, given how the Colts and the Steelers played at the end of last year, I’m pretty sure that fans of the Patriots and the Eagles might be expecting some victories themselves.
And this morning, we’ll see how Paul brought it all together by focusing on the victory we’re going to experience after the general resurrection of the dead and how that vision can shape us as we go about our living on this side of the grave. In fact, in these last eight verses in chapter fifteen, I think Paul reminded the Corinthians and he reminds us of three victory characteristics that we’re going to experience when we’re raised from death.
My friends, I want you to know that our bodies of flesh and blood will decay. This means they cannot share in God’s kingdom, which lasts forever. I will explain a mystery to you. Not every one of us will die, but we will all be changed. It will happen suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye. At the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised. We will all be changed, so we will never die again. Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won’t die or decay. The bodies we now have are weak and can die. But they will be changed into bodies that are eternal. [1 Corinthians 15:50-54a, CEV]
And I’ll tell you, believing this, man, it’s got to shape our expectations. I mean, when we trust that regardless of what we might face along the way, regardless of what problems and pain we may have to endure and regardless of how we might leave this mortal toil, there’s resurrection on the other side, and we will be change, I’ll tell you, when this is right there at the core of our faith, we really have no reason to worry, because we can see God on the other side. And God will change us into someone who’s ready to enter into eternity, new men and women, in a new heaven and a new earth. I mean, this can be our vision, something that I believe is going to happen because, after the resurrection, first, our victory will be complete.
Then the Scriptures will come true,
“Death has lost the battle!
Where is its victory?
Where is its sting?”
Sin is what gives death its sting, and the Law is the power behind sin. But thank God for letting our Lord Jesus Christ give us the victory! [1 Corinthians 15:54b-57, CEV]
And I’ll tell you, trusting in this, man, I think it can shape our emotions. I mean, when we believe that the coming resurrection is going to change everything, well, we have no reason to fear the future. I mean, no matter how bad things seem to be right now, everything we consider “now” is temporary, not eternal. And even though, by active intent or passive neglect, we may make an absolute mess of our own lives and we may do enormous damage to the world around us, we lack the power to derail the intention of God. You see, his will is going to be done on earth as it is in heaven whether we ask for it or not. Therefore, we don’t need to be afraid of our ultimate future, because it’s firmly in God’s hands. And for that reason, we can actually look forward with assurance and confidence and hope. Take it to the bank, our emotions will change. Why? Man, that’s easy. According to what Paul wrote, I believe after the resurrection, second, our victory will be cosmic.
My dear friends, stand firm and don’t be shaken. Always keep busy working for the Lord. You know that everything you do for him is worthwhile. [1 Corinthians 15:58, CEV]
Now that’s what he wrote. You see, since we live after the first Easter, as I said just a few minutes ago, right now we’re living between resurrections. I mean, on one hand, in most ways, the world is pretty much the same as it was when God made that little mud man named Adam and breathed into him that live-giving spirit. And from that moment on, well, entropy kicked in, didn’t it? As Robert Frost wrote in that wonderful poem Nothing Gold Can Stay:
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
But I’ll tell you, I believe knowing this has got to shape our lives, or at the very least, how we choose to live them. Of course, as we go about living, I think it’s really easy to assume that we’ll always have time to do all the stuff we want to do. It’s like what T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem, The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock:
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
Now, that’s what he wrote, “There will be time.” But of course, deep down, we all know that’s just not true. I mean, it’s easy to believe that we’ll always have time, that is until we don’t. But think about it, just knowing this, well, maybe that can be a reminder that now is the time to act. In other words, maybe now is the time to make the best use of what we have as we live between the resurrections. I mean, maybe now is the time to do what we can to obey Jesus Christ and to love both God and neighbor. And now may be the time to do this boldly, possibly by taking a few risks and thinking outside the box, confident that, as Paul wrote, “You know that everything you do for him is worthwhile.” [1 Corinthians 15:58b, CEV] You see, this is the life we can live, when, third, we believe our victory will be coming.
But you know, if we can’t be sure of what will happen with our favorite teams next fall, I think we can be confident of what will happen after we die. You see, sometime in the future God will raise us from the dead; therefore, right here and now, we can trust that our victory will be complete and our victory will be cosmic and our victory will come, three truths that I believe can shape our expectations and emotions and lives. At least, that was what I think the Apostle Paul believed, something we can see in 1 Corinthians 15; therefore, in my opinion, there really is good news in resurrection.
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Bible Readings for May 24, 2026
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