* Special Announcement: in addition to our new website —  hickoryfbc.org  — our church staff have new email addresses that share the same domain. For any staff member, it is * last-name*@hickoryfbc.org . We will still have emails addressed to the domain “@fbc.cc” forwarded to our new accounts. However, in order to ensure we get your messages, we encourage you to make the necessary changes to any settings you may have saved. 

** More Special Announcement: our website and new email addresses are almost entirely due to the work of our own, Heather Lockman. Her presence and work on behalf of our church is a ministry, and we are blessed by her service. Be sure to express your gratitude to her for all she does for our church family! 

  

Read: John  13:12-17 , 31-35

They will know we are Christians by our Love. 

Jesus was not above the lowliest of tasks, washing his disciples feet, and he told his disciples to love one another as he loved them. 

What is Jesus reminding you of in this reading today? 

What other examples come to mind of how Jesus loved his neighbor? 

How is God leading you to demonstrate love to your neighbor? 

Read : Philippians 2:1-11

How can Paul’s encouragement to the Philippians apply to you today? 

What did Paul want the Philippians to unite around? How can that help focus our own attempt at unity? 

Jesus set the ultimate example of love in not only word, but deed. How is God leading you to demonstrate love to your neighbor?

Listen to: We are One in the Spirit (traditional arr. Harding University Concert Choir)  https:// youtu.be/cfN5N1kdgGk 

Listen to: By our Love (Christy Nockels)  https:// youtu.be/AhSoTtJnfJ8 

Prayer : 

O Thou Eternal God, out of whose absolute power and infinite intelligence the whole universe has come into being, we humbly confess that we have not loved thee with our hearts, souls and minds, and we have not loved our neighbors as Christ loved us. We have all too often lived by our own selfish impulses rather than by the life of sacrificial love as revealed by Christ. We often give in order to receive. We love our friends and hate our enemies. We go the first mile but dare not travel the second. We forgive but dare not forget. And so as we look within ourselves, we are confronted with the appalling fact that the history of our lives is the history of an eternal revolt against you. But thou, O God, have mercy upon us. Forgive us for what we could have been but failed to be. Give us the intelligence to know your will. Give us the courage to do your will. Give us the devotion to love thy will. In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray. Amen. 

- Martin Luther King, Jr. 

(Baldwin, Lewis V., editor.  “Thou, Dear God": Prayers That Open Hearts and Spirits . 7).