First Presbyterian Church of Charleston, IL

06/10/2026

Let us pray:
God, as you sow seeds within our hearts, let us also reap love throughout the world by supporting those who need our help and serving others as Jesus did. Amen.

06/10/2026

Psalm 116:1-2, 12-14

1 I love the LORD, who has heard my voice and my supplications.

2 God inclined his ear to me,

therefore I will call on the LORD as long as I live.

12 What shall I return to the LORD for all God’s bounty to me?

13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, 14I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all God’s people. Praise the LORD!

06/09/2026

Genesis 18:1-15
The call of Abraham and Sarah

18:1
The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.

18:2
He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and bowed down to the ground.

18:3
He said, "My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.

18:4
Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.

18:5
Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on--since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said."

18:6
And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes."

18:7
Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it.

18:8
Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

18:9
They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent."

18:10
Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him.

18:11
Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

18:12
So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I be fruitful?"

18:13
The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?'

18:14
Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son."

18:15
But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "Yes, you did laugh."

06/08/2026

06/08/2026

Let us pray:
Loving Gather, we thank you for the courageous and faithful. As we serve, let us all walk humbly with you as we follow the example given to us by Jesus Christ. Amen.

06/08/2026

Psalm 100
We are God's people

100:1
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.

100:2
Serve the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.

100:3
Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

100:4
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him; bless his name.

100:5
For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations.

06/08/2026

06/06/2026

Let us pray:
Holy One, may we hear your calling us to participate in your inbreaking kingdom. May we recognize just how you have prepared us. And may we, with gratitude, give as you ask. In Christ’s name. Amen.

06/06/2026

Romans 4:13-25
The promise to those of Abraham's faith

4:13
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

4:14
For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

4:15
For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

4:16
For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace, so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us,

4:17
as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"), in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

4:18
Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So shall your descendants be."

4:19
He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), and the barrenness of Sarah's womb.

4:20
No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

4:21
being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

4:22
Therefore it "was reckoned to him as righteousness."

4:23
Now the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone

4:24
but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

4:25
who was handed over for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.