Tell City First United Methodist Church

Tell City First United Methodist Church We are a church with doors open to Connect all to Christ and allow Christ to change who they are In-person
Sunday School - 10:15 a.m.

Pastor Harriet Wilkin
Please contact the office to schedule an appointment with the Pastor. Church Hours
Monday-Friday: 9:30 am-2:30 pm

Church Phone number 812-547-2800

e-mail: [email protected]

Sunday Worship - 9:00 a.m. Hybrid Worship - 11:15 In-person & Online

04/24/2026

Ephesians 4:17-19 NRSV
“Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

Paul teaches us here that the Gentile world that is without Christ, live a life with five terrible ways to live life. This is why before all else, we are therefore called to go forth and walk worthy of the calling with which we have been called”. We will touch on this again in a few. Paul teaches us here that the Christ-less Gentiles world is:

Aimless – Paul writes here that they walk “in the futility of their minds”. They walk with a lot of activity but with no purpose. They say it takes more faith to be an atheist than a Christian, and as a former atheist I can tell you this is true. You are truly living life with no purpose; empty and fruitless. What good is doing good with the good you are doing is just for you to be good?

Blind – Paul writes they are darkened in their understanding. Paul here was referring to the gentiles that refused to believe. They were blinded to the actual truth because they had their own belief. Think about how that fits into the world we live in. As a former atheist I can attest to this myself. I read the Bible and was blinded to the actual truth that came from it just to be able to debate what I thought with believers. But do we not also have this in churches today that teach a false Gospel. Are they not also Gentiles darkened or blinded in their own understanding?

Ungodly – Paul then remind these gentiles readers if they Could imagine living a life separated from God. I sit back and imagine my life or drugs and alcohol prior to accepted, and yet I still was fully alienated from God. Jesus was up on the cross and the worst pain he felt is when he looked up and said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me”. That moment when God turned is back to his son and Christ felt completely alienated. That is same feeling non-believers carry with them and don’t even know it. It is all because a life without God is a life without love

Shameless – The translation I used says they had lost all sensitivity. Meaning the sins of the world stopped mattering. Do we not see this today. We look at the world and walk right by not just sin, but pain and suffering. We have gotten numb to so much including bad language becoming a normal form of communication. Why so important to walk in the world without being a part of the world

Sordid – Because of becoming shameless or de-sensitized to sin the gentiles of Paul’s days lived sordid or lustful lives. To us the cardinal sin or the worst of the worst if murder, r**e, and such. To the Greek world of Paul’s day sexual immorality was a high cardinal sin. Paul is stating to the church that because of many years of living the way they had that this immoral behavior had just become normal. Look at us today, we have men and women, mainly women, quitting their respective professions and joining site like Only Fans. Don’t know what it is, is a site where a camera is on you and people pay you to do what they ask. This has become celebrated. There are several dating sites that specialize is being discrete solely for affairs. One of them advertises at the national level. We have become numb to it all.

The problem Paul says at the end of the verses today is that because of all this they become greedy or have an insatiable appetite for all the wrong things. You can never have enough. They were greedy to indulge in all the shameful, sordid life being alienated from God led them to. All the deadly sins revolve around Greed. No having enough so you lust, envy, you horde, you get mad, or you decide to withdrawal and do nothing. A life with God is a life you fill with something else.

04/22/2026

Paul uses the word edify a lot and it is a word that means to lift up. Our friends, our loved ones, our family, and the Church are all things that our actions, and our walk should be lifting them up or edifying them to Christ. When we do that we make the light brighter. One bulb by itself can brighten up a small room, but when you place many together the light is able to reach further. That is what we have to do. We are all CALLED. So my question today is what are you doing with your calling? Are you sitting with a flashlight over yourself or are you lifting up your family and friends and church and standing with a ballpark style stack of lights showing bright Christ to all around you? Whatever your calling is remember we are all Evangelists and as such we need to shine and edify as far as we can reach.

Pastor Jack

04/20/2026

Ephesians 4:11-17 NRSV

“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full statue of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness n deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped. As each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”

Christ came down, born from God as a man. It lived 33 years and died an excruciating death so that we could be free. When we left and ascended he left us gifts, and those gifts were not wrapped presents or even items we could use. Those gifts were people. It was the Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Most read this and think it is a call to those in leadership. Most believe ministry falls on those “called”, but Paul tells us something that the church today seems to miss, and a point Paul just made at the beginning of this very chapter when he turned the tides from teaching concept to teaching application. He told us to walk worthy of the calling to which we have been called. It isn’t just the apostles, prophets, or evangelists. It isn’t just the pastors and teachers that are the called ones. WE ARE ALL CALLED! Some yes are apostles, some yes are prophets, and pastors, and teachers. Not everyone can fill those roles. Not everyone can be an apostle, plant churches and be the pillar. Not all can be a pastor and correctly shepherd a flock. Not all can be so in-tune with God that they can speak His words. Not all can read the Word and be able to teach it. However, I have left one off that everyone can and should be. We can and should all be Evangelists. Yes there is a “office” for an Evangelist, but really being a disciples also fits directly into what an evangelists does. Those 5 keys roles are what helped shape the early church, but not all evangelists were Apostles or prophets. All Pastor and teachers are evangelists, and yet again not all evangelists are Pastors and teachers. It is that one thing that being a disciples separates us from just being a believer.

Go forth and spread the gospel making disciples in all nations, baptizing in the name of the father son and holy spirit. We should all be walking around and spreading the Gospel. We should all be pointing people to Christ. Apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers, their roles were to edify the Body of Christ. The body, united in faith, would edify the World. So, how then are we where we are today, where the body relies on the leaders to be “the called”? Paul tells us two chapters back that the Body, the Church, is going to be made up of several parts, much like our own physical, human body. Like our own body, all parts work together to serve a purpose. When that body was founded on the correct things, like the Apostles and Prophets with a foundation of Christ and Christ crucified, then all parts, all pieces of the body would fit together. When we have that foundation, Paul talked about us not having to worry about being tossed to and fro. Many people today are looking for the perfect church, with the perfect preachers, singing the perfect way, and speaking what they want to hear. Paul warns us here in these short six verses that the only way to accomplish the commission set out by Christ, the only way for the Body to grow, is not by the perfect church, with the perfect preacher, singing the perfect songs the perfect way, or the Word read the way they want, it is with The Church “speaking the truth in love”. It is with The Church “joined and knitted together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does it share....” which he finishes by saying doing so causes the body to “grow for the edifying of...” the edifying of what “...itself in love”. We can’t be what we are called to be without being unified as one. Without every piece working together, and not against each other, we can’t be one. That’s why so many of the Letters to us, to the Church (and not just from Paul), talk about in-fighting, gossip, or backbiting. When we truly understand WE are THE CALLED, then we can’t do anything except Edify each other and in-turn the world.

Pastor Jack

04/02/2026

Ephesians 4:3-6 NRSV
"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one father, one baptism, on God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

The last 4 of the foundations we rest on all sit together. We have one Lord and one Father. One baptism that rest on one God who is above all and through all. That baptism Paul writes about here isn't a water baptism. It is being baptized with the spirit like those in the upper room on the day of Pentecost got. This baptism is what fuels that Therefore statement Paul made. Just like in the Upper Room. They got filled and then went forth and preached the Gospel. We are called to do the same. We all rest on one body and one Spirit as we are called to the one Hope. All based on One Lord and one Father so that we can be baptized by one God and Father so that he can be above us and through us. It is that way of looking at it that we can therefore walk worthy of the calling with which we have been called.

Pastor Jack

04/01/2026

Ephesians 4:3-6 NRSV
"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called tot he one hope of your calling, one Lord, one father, one baptism, on God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

So yesterday we looked at the first two huge foundational belief we rest on, and that is that we are One Body with one Spirit. We can't be what we say we are unless we understand the same spirit that was in Christ rest in us. With that we can be one tree with many branches reaching the masses. Paul though then tells us that we are called to the one hope of our calling. What is that hope. Our hope lies in something most other religions don't have. Hope is one of the greatest things people can have. Depression sets in typically when peoples hope gets taken away. People say Christians are an in a general a happy denomination because we have a Hope no other religion has. Our hope lies in a savior that doesn’t tell us everything will be roses and rainbows. We have a savior that says he will be with us through the times that are not roses and rainbows. We have hope in a savior that says he goes to prepare a place for us and promises to come back to get us. We have hope in a God that came down to be born a man and die a excruciating death just to battle death so that we could be free, so that we could have eternal life. We have this hope for a reason. That reason is the calling in which we have been called. That calling is being called a Christian, which isn't just being a believer like most think. It is being Christ like. It is showing other the same Hope that our own calling rests on. It is showing others that only Bible they may ever see.

Pastor Jack

03/31/2026

Ephesians 4:1-6 NRSV
“I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humanity and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called tot he one hope of your calling, one Lord, one father, one baptism, on God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

This first 6 verses is so important to our walk. It is more than that Therefore statement. Paul is telling us here that is we are what we say we are then love will pour out of us. That love should built on 7 foundational pillars. Over the next week we are going to look at these and why each one is so important.

There is one body: We are supposed to be one church. Doesn't matter if you are black, brown, or white. Male or female, rich or poor. The church is made up of many bodies all coming together to form one church built on foundation that "GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON, SO THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE"(John 3:16). When we understand that "all have sinned and all have fallen short..."(Rms 3:23) we can look at our brothers and understand we are no better than them. We are all sinners in need of a oerfect savior, "for I did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world could be saved through me"(John 3:17). We have more denominations than we can count but instead of fighting each other when we the common goal we all have and go out and do the goal then the devil can't attack as easy. That goal is that therefore statement Paul makes, all so we can add more to the one Body. Look at yourself today and ask yourself where is your Therefore statement.

Pastor Jack

03/30/2026

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

The key words here...."all things". It doesn't say some things or just a few. Paul says "all things work together for good....". Now I knew that to believe in God meant there was a devil to as you can't believe in one without the other. I never knew he was a real as he is until I followed my call. I remember My Pastor at the time telling me when I decided to falling the call God placed on my heart and become a Preacher that the devil would come attacking. I agreed but never knew or could have imagined how or to what extreme he did over the first couple years of ministry. But, God has a purpose and it was up to us to let go, pray, and follow to realize that purpose. Through all the attacks, through all the pain I have come out seeing that purpose. Seeing how he works it all out and together for good.

Here is a word for the devil. I love God and will continue to serve God in every way he lays before me. He is my rock and shield and with him I can do all things. After a huge rocky start, and after finally learning to put all Faith and Trust in God, I discovered how to not worry, how to not fear, how to be truly content in all things. In doing so God gave me more than my heart could imagine. We placed God first in our home, our Family, and our Lives. Devil, There is just no place in this house for you. No place in this family for you. My kids will be raised to love and serve the Lord. I can't speak for others but I can speak for my family and declare right now Satan you are not taking second of our peace, joy, happiness, or love.

Joshua 24:15
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve........as for me and my house, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.

03/24/2026

Isaiah is 29:11-13
And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Church read this carefully and cautiously. Isaiah was prophesying about what is happening in the church's today. We have been given a book, the Bible, that so-called scholars and clergy men and Pastors are not reading. They are delivering messages with the book remaining closed. A feel good message is preached instead of a message that not only honors God but moves member's hearts toward God. Today people don't fear God because of what the word says. They fear God because a man tells them to. Today too many people follow a man and not God. It is what is wrong with the "church" today. God gave us his word to learn from, to grow from, to pull our hearts closer to him. If your Pastor doesn't emphasize the importance of bible study then it is time to find a new church. The word says to study to show yourself approved. Apostles, Pastors, Evangelist, Prophets, and Teachers: we will be judged on words we give, the teachings we give, the instructions we give. It is not the listeners fault, though they should study and correct, ultimately though it is our fault. Make sure the words you give, the sermons you preach, the churches you plant are all done using the Word of God and not the Word of man. Lead people's hearts to God and not your personal agenda. And, since we are all Evangelists, all of our jobs should be to lead others to the cross. Ephesians 4:1 says that we need to walk worthy of being called Christian. That means all we do should be to others. We may be the only Bible anyone sees today and in some cases sees ever.

As for me and mine, we will Serve the Lord.

03/23/2026

Isaiah 40:31
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Time.......a word that is great and a word that stinks. We want everything now. But God provides what you need when you need it. Isaiah wrote “But they that wait upon the Lord….”, and to often we push God’s timeline and it doesn’t work out or we give up to early before we even got to the destination. The saying “good things come to those that wait” is based on same concept. To often are we pushing for what we want or do we wait and just let the good, and the great happen? Here’s the thing we can’t sit back and do nothing and expect that everything will land in our lap. We always need to try and better ourselves, but if it is a material thing then we shouldn’t have to push to make it happen, and if we do then it really isn’t needed right now. If it is a matter of the heart then give it time and Let God form what needs to happen. When the time is right all else falls into place. If it is a problem then wrap it up give it to the Lord and let him remove the mountain from in front of you. Pushing Gods timeline will only last for a short term. If You want the run the marathon then “Those that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength,......shall run and not be weary”.

Pastor Jack

03/20/2026

Ephesians 4:1
“I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you tto lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”

Ephesians Chapter 4 is a powerful Chapter about truly how to be a Christian and how to treat others. The more I read this one chapter the more it has really effecting the way I think. I have spent way too much time saying I am a Christian but not acting Christ like at all. The first verse states this. A lot of Preachers use this verse to state how a Preacher is supposed to act because it uses the word “calling, but it isn’t just Pastors, Ministers, or preachers. We, yes WE, are all called and that calling is being a Christian.

Paul tells us in this first verse to all walk the walk. Don’t just talk it but let others see the most important sermon or message they can possibly see, Your life and Your Walk. Both should be a reflection of Christ. All this is to point others to Christ. Take a deep look and if you call yourself a Christian and your life doesn’t lead others to Christ then I urge you to read this one Chapter and then take a deep look inside and let God through the Holy Spirit change the things in you so others see Christ in all you do.

Pastor Jack

03/19/2026

Ephesians 4:1-6 NRSV
“I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humanity and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called tot he one hope of your calling, one Lord, one father, one baptism, on God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

Paul just spent the last 3 Chapters praying for what he is getting ready to teach. He explained to us how we are one church, the wall that separates us is taken down. So then in true Preacher fashion, he rolls right in to hitting them with what to do with it. In verse 1 he tells us as we walk around, as we meet with people, as we work, as we socialize, we are to do so by being worthy of being called Christian. Don’t walk like the world walks. Just because you go to work in the world does not mean you need to part of it, to act like it. When we walk worthy of the calling, then those around us know Who is inside us and whose we are

How do we walk “worthy”? Well, just in case they (or we) didn’t know, Paul lays that out as well. It takes humility, and gentleness, which both come with showing those around you the willingness to be different but also submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We must have patience, holding each other up but with what? Paul spent a good chunk of the last part of Chapter 3 telling us we need to know the love of Christ so we can be filled beyond measure with that love. He then goes on to tell how to use that love. By holding each other up in LOVE.

Paul then lays something down that the church of his day probably didn’t understand but that we completely have happening now. We have more denominations than probably anyone can count. Inside most of them there are sub-denominations. Even non-denominational has become a denomination. We have to understand what THE Church is. When we understand this we can stop looking at what divides us and instead look at what unites us. The church is one body, pulled together by one spirit, with a calling of one hope, where we all worship one Lord. We all trust in and walk out One Faith, we all identify with one baptism (baptism of the heart), submitting to one God and one Father with only one way to Him, Jesus Christ. Paul has verse 3 before verses 4, 5 and 6 because when we fail to keep the “unity of the Spirit” we deny the one body. Two chapters back Paul prays that we would have ONE Church made up of several pieces but all pieces would be founded on the basic principles laid out by the Apostles and Prophets with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. When we do that no matter how many denominations there are we become exactly what Paul prayed for....“in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Eph 2:21-22). When the world sees division they want no part of it. When the world sees together, united in one Spirit then it’s seeing THE Church, that it is THE body, and that is what Paul is trying to explain at the start of Ephesians 4.

Pastor Jack

03/18/2026

I am going to tell you a little story of a man and Jesus coming to visit. There was this man who lived alone. Every night he was woke up by a knock on the door. He would go downstairs and open the door, and Satan was there and would drag him out and just lay into him. The guy would crawl back inside and make his way back to bed and same thing happen the next night. One night before bed he hears a knock and goes to the door, and it is Jesus standing at the door. He invites him in, and Jesus tells him he knows what happens every night and He tells him there is another way. The man hears Christ out and decides to give it a try. He opens his Bible, and he reads. He read Ephesians 6 where Paul writes about the darkness that we battle daily with it. He reads about the armor and the breastplate that protect us. That night he got the best night sleep of his life. The happens over next few nights.

About a week goes by and instead of doing what he has done he puts his new Bible and armor in the coat closet. Now we all know that “coat closet” by the door of our house. It is designed for things to go in and sometimes never be seen again, at least that seems to be the case at our house. You got a shelf for board games that are never used and a shelf above that for the things we thought we might get to but have been up there forever. Coats we never wear and for some reason this closet goes back further than it architecturally should. We took our coat off and hung it up, but we took our armor off and laid it on the bottom where the abyss is. Now there are some out there that our clean freaks and their coat closet doesn’t look like that but with 3 boys under the age of 13, I can tell you for certain that this is an example of mine and most likely more than a few others. Ephesians 3:17 Paul is in the middle of the prayer of prayers. He prays that “…Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” When Paul wrote this it was in Greek and the Greek word for dwell literally translates “to make at home”. When we come home and put away Christ, put away the Word, and put away our armor we aren’t making him feel at home. This man in this story did exactly that. For a week he got great sleep because after Christ came to visit, he made Christ at home in his heart. Here is the problem most face, Christ needs to stay there. The moment we take our eyes off the prize is the moment the devil slips in. He waits outside for that moment to strike. That is exactly what happened in this story. That night the knock came. He goes downstairs and opens the door and there is Satan. The man reaches for the coat closet door, but Satan pulls him out and lays into him. He crawls back inside and makes his way back to bed. The next night a knock happens again but this time it is from the inside of the house. The man realizes it is coming from the coat closet. He opens it and there is Christ. They sit down and have a discussion. The man asked why didn’t he come to his rescue? Christ told him that He was where he left him. Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians church, Paul asks that we all know the fullness of Christ. We can’t begin to understand that fullness if we are busy putting him in the coat closet every night. He wants to dwell in us. Meaning, he wants to make Himself at home in our hearts. We can’t begin to understand the fight we have or the armor we will need without understand the fullness of Christ, or more importantly what it is he wants to fill. It is when we stop putting Christ where all the other things we don’t use on a daily basis and bring Him out into our home to dwell among us that those things we fight on a regular basis start to seem more like strangers that couldn’t knock on the door anymore because you have the permanent “Protected by” yard sign and stickers on every window. The questions when you decide to give it all do you come with a Dump truck size heart or a thimble size. The answer makes all the difference.

Pastor Jack

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702/10th Street
Tell City, IN
47586

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Wednesday 9:30am - 2:30pm
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