First Cary

Welcome to First Sanctuary Worship with First Cary – Second Sunday after Pentecost

Jesus was no stranger to challenges. He faced many who questioned, doubted, and pushed back, and his responses to those challenges still echo today – challenging us to see differently, to follow differently, and live differently. When the Pharisees challenge Jesus about violating the Sabbath, he fires back by forcing them to think about the purpose of the Sabbath. How can we rise above the letter of the law and honor God’s intent?

Scripture: Matthew 12:1-8

Join us for the June Sermon Series "Challenging Jesus"

Welcome to First Sanctuary Worship with First Cary – Ascension Sunday

In Mark 10, we encounter a blind beggar on the side of the road named Bartimaeus. As Jesus passes, Bartimaeus asks for help and cries out to Christ, even while others try to silence him. “Son of David, have mercy on me!” It’s risky. It’s vulnerable. It’s humiliating. And Jesus honors his courage to ask and trust to receive something that only God can give. Jesus commends his faith and restores his sight. Risking-taking faith means admitting our need for help and trusting God - even when we fear rejection or judgement. What insecurities are blinding us, and how might our faith grow in the risk of asking for help?

Welcome to First Sanctuary Worship with First Cary – Sixth Sunday of Easter

God has called us as First Cary to invest in the generations. As such, we are called to pass down our faith, which means taking the risk of forming others - and allowing our faith to ripple beyond what we can see. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we hear of Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Paul lifts them up as models of spiritual influence across generations, as they risk to raise Timothy in a countercultural faith (2 Timothy 1:1-7). This bold passing down of faith in God impacts not just Timothy, but the wider church as it ripples through the Apostle Paul and his letters. Faith formation is not about control - it’s about courageous investment that the Spirit multiplies in others.

Welcome to First Sanctuary Worship with First Cary – Fifth Sunday of Easter

There’s a popular joke that Jesus’s greatest miracle was keeping twelve close friends in his 30s. In the digital age, analog friendships are becoming increasingly rare. True friendship requires risk - the risk of vulnerability, loyalty, and love that mirror the enfleshed heart of God in Christ, who walked with close friends. Cue Jonathan, the son of Israel’s first King, Saul. Jonathan could have easily sided with his father’s plot to kill David, but instead risked status, power and safety to befriend David, becoming his closest ally. Their covenant friendship mirrors God’s faithful love toward us. Faith grows when we risk being known and loved - and when we choose to love others without guarantee.

Scripture: 1 Samuel 18:1–5

Join us in worship as we explore what happens when ordinary people trust God enough to take holy risks. Together, we’ll discover that the Holy Spirit still meets us in our risks and turns them into the very places where faith comes alive.

Welcome to First Sanctuary Worship with First Cary – Fourth Sunday of Easter

In Elisha’s final moments, we see a prophet who has spent his life pointing people back to God, even as the nation around him falters. He speaks a word of promise to King Joash about God’s victory, and then, even in his death, God’s Spirit brings resurrection life when a man is raised from the grave by touching Elisha’s bones. God’s power is not limited by human frailty or even by the grave. Where kings and nations fail, God’s Spirit continues to move, bringing life in the most unexpected places. For us today, it means no situation, no season, and no part of our story is beyond God’s ability to bring new life.

Scripture: 2 Kings 13:20–21