advent day 3

Advent is about waiting and longing. Fasting is about longing. Longing for the presence of Christ, the extension of His Kingdom, longing to see the renewal of all things. Praying helps with that too.
Tomorrow at Noon-12:30 at Christian study center and/or 6:15-6:45PM at Hope Church.

Advent Day 2

I hope to post daily during advent... today--random things that have helped me treasure Christ in the past:
~John Piper's advent poems at http://www.desiringgod.org
~Dorothy Sayers, The Man Born to be King, a play originally done for the BBC
~Isaiah, the prophet http://www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible?passage=Isaiah&search=&version=ESV&language=english&optional.x=12&optional.y=10
~Handel's Messiah, so good

This year i'm going to seek, privately and at home, to make use of an advent calendar... here's one online
http://www.gracecathedral.org/advent/

Yes, an online calendar feels a bit weird, but hey--whatever it takes to prepare the way.

Sunday Worship at Christ Community

We will:
baptize Sally SchackowBaptism, by Francis Schaeffer

Receive several people into membership

Enjoy one another

Look together at the 2nd half of Stephen's speech in Acts 7.

Remember, there is no 9am Sunday School this week. Only 10am worship and only a nursery for the youngest children.

bring $10 and stuff a box after service

Samaritan's Purse | Operation Christmas Child

many of you asked....

about my quoting jim carrey in email this week: here's more for our thinking

I don't know if you guys saw Jim Carrey's comments to 60 Minutes. Excerpt:"This is where I hang out with Buddha, Krishna...all those guys," says Carrey about a lean-to adorned with candles and a bed built high on his hillside property in Brentwood, Calif. "I'm a Buddhist, I'm a Muslim, I'm a Christian. I'm whatever you want me to be...it all comes down to the same thing," he tells Kroft. Carrey says he believes they are all the same God and it is this conviction and spirituality that make him happy.Religious exclusivism, from a Christian perspective, is the belief that the only god is the triune god of Christianity - Yahweh - and that you can't approach him as Buddha and while you might be able to use the word 'Allah' the content you'd pour into that word would be trinitarian, nicene Christianity. Though a lot of readers here believe this, as do I, religious exclusivism can be a real drag these days (even as it was in the first century, when Christians were called 'atheists' by adherents to the Roman pantheon because Christians denied all the Greek and Roman gods and household gods). So, here's your challenge. If you were Jim Carrey's friend and had coffee, er, he doesn't drink it, a *smoothie* every week with him to catch up on life (notice that I'm presupposing that you a. already know him, and b. appreciate him as a friend and love him as a person) and he were to float the idea that all the major "religions" are the same, how would you participate in the conversation? How can you present a vision for an exclusivistic spirituality that would not be a drag for him - that would be encouraging. Is a winsome exclusivism possible? (author Jon Barlow)

Parent idea...

1. Use the hymns the children's ministry sent to help prepare for December 12th musical as fodder for dinner discussion.
2. Listen to the CD early and often so that the great truths* of Christmas are in your hearts and minds as Advent approaches.

*God and sinners reconciled.
*Mild He lays His glory by; born that man no more may die.

Parent idea...

1. Use the hymns the children's ministry sent to help prepare for December 12th musical as fodder for dinner discussion.
2. Listen to the CD early and often so that the great truths* of Christmas are in your hearts and minds as Advent approaches.

*God and sinners reconciled.
*Mild He lays His glory by; born that man no more may die.

He Came Down

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man... (Nicene Creed excerpt)
Sundays at 9am in December .... I will lead an interactive class on the incarnation of Jesus Christ; i.e. Christmas!

Need feedback on Samaritan's purse

If you know that you plan to take advantage of Sunday's Dollar-Store at Christ Community, and pay the $10 to pack a Christmas box for a child, would you please email the number of boxes you'll purchace? send to office AT christcommunitychurch DOT com

Samaritan's Purse | Operation Christmas Child

Women and Football...

Women: Jenna's baby shower last night was a huge success. Women's Christmas Gathering is Sunday evening December 5, mark calendars.

Football: University Students vs Old Guys... will be held in January on "Super Bowl Sunday" mark calendars

Yes, yes... I knew it was a movie

To End All Wars - Argyll Film Partners present a motion picture based on a true story by Ernest Gordon

phones wacked at church office

so i'll answer most often asked question on Saturday... worship service begins at 10:00am... there you go

Pray for Persecuted Church

http://www.idop.org/idop_map.pdf

Famous Poem Remembering Sacrifice

In Flanders Fields
written in 1915 by John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below.We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved, and were loved, and now we lieIn Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throwThe torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flanders fields.

Flanders, in north-west Belgium, was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the World War I. One of the few things said to have survived the bloodshed was the poppy. Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrea, a Canadian doctor serving on the battlefield, wrote this poem after treating the battle wounded and burying the dead.

I will arise and go to Jesus

He will embrace me in His arms

In the arms of my dear Sawior

O, there are ten thousand charms

~Joseph Hart,

1712-1768

"How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose!....You drove them from me, You who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, You who are sweeter than all pleasure....O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation. ~Augustine

"The promises of Scripture tell you that your Savior-God will guard you, guide you, keep you, feed you, care for you, uphold you, forgive your daily shortcomings, free you from Satan's snares and bondages, and shepherd you through this world to the next, where you will see and enjoy Him forever." ~ J. I. Packer

"The notion that we are children of God, His own sons and daughters.....is the mainspring of Christian living....Our sonship to God, is the apex of Creation and the goal of redemption."
Sinclair Ferguson

Their Blood Cries Out...

Sunday is the Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.... start todayTheir Blook Cries Out

We've been asked to pray...

for Cecille Welch, mother of K. Fullerton, a former CCCite now living in Atlanta.

Worthy to suffer...

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Acts 5:41

Thanksgiving at Eubanks..

Anyone who desires is invited... more later

sunday

9am classes for all
10am worship

Sunday, we partake...

What the Lord’s Supper is not: It is not a way of regaining saving grace or salvation.
It is not a re-sacrificing of Christ. His death two thousand years ago is sufficient to save us.
According to one view, baptism washes away original sin and, to use one illustration, fills the
bathtub with grace. Every time a believer commits a sin, grace leaks out of the bathtub. If it
leaks out entirely, salvation would be lost. The Lord’s Supper is used to “refill” the bathtub with
saving grace. This is a faulty view. It makes communion into another work and strips the cross of its saving power.
What the Lord’s Supper is: First, it is a sign. Historically, Protestants believe that the grace received in communion is not a grace that saves (for we are already saved) but a grace that restores the believer’s confidence in the Word’s declaration that we are “Not Guilty” before
God. In this case, it acts as a sign that continually reminds us that we are secure in Christ, that
the price has been paid, and that we stand before a Holy God forgiven and free. Moreover, we
are part of God’s Covenant Family.
Along with being a sign, communion is also a seal—proving to us that the outward
and visible sign of God’s promise of forgiveness also takes place inwardly and invisibly.
Communion seals through the Holy Spirit our union with Christ. With this union comes all of
Christ’s benefits. Communion, then, is like a refueling station—not in the sense that we need
“brownie points” with God, but in the sense that we need to recover lost steam, motivation, and
ability. We are weak and our hearts become cold. Communion enables us to feed on Christ and
His benefits the same way our bodies feed on bread and drink for a long journey. In a real sense,
then, the Lord’s Supper literally nourishes and protects our souls for the long pilgrimage of faith.
The Lord’s Supper, then, is much more than a mere memorial. It not only symbolizes
something great, it is something great. As one author says so well,
It is the actual nourishment of Christ Himself who offers His body and blood for
spiritual food. To those wearied by a tough week at the home or office, or to those
whose conscience never lets them forget a sin they have committed during the week,
the sacrament of holy communion is there to communicate Christ and His
forgiveness. There is no conscience that cannot be instructed and overcome by this
powerful sacrament.
Finally, the Lord’s Supper is to remind the Church of its destiny as a pilgrim people,
dependent on His sustaining grace, and longing for the day when we will be hungry no more.
The Lord’s Supper is a down payment, the firstfruits of what is promised for us in eternity.

prayer tonite 6:15-6:45 at Hope

we had a good gathering at study center, you still can make evening one.... which is child-friendly

Prayer & Fasting Tomorrow

Kingdom-Advancing Prayer, tomorrow, two opportunities:
Noon-12:30 at Christian Study Center http://www.christianstudycenter.org/
6:15pm-6:45 pm at Hope Community Church, corner Tower & SW 20th Ave

Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy

A Prayer

Almighty God,
You have ordained the authorities that are;
You have clothed them in a majesty
that is higher and stronger
than the given facts of their history,
a majesty that awakens fear in us
and claims honor from us.
O God, remember in Your mercy
the men who bear the burden of this majesty,
men like us easily bent
by the pressure of temptation,
by the impact of expediency.
Remember them and strengthen them
when they are moved
to shade the truth to their own ends,
to withhold what should be told,
to distort what must be told,
to disclose what does not serve
our common weal.
Keep intact their honor and their
credibility.
Purge us, O God,
of cynical distrust,
of party passion,
of the deafness
of our rebellious bent. ...
Your Son, our Lord,
would not speak ill of Caesar
even when Caesar’s power
nailed Him to the cross.
Give us the Spirit of Your Son.

More on City of God, City of Man...

Let us be clear: We are not implying that our faith doesn't have a great deal to say about all of our this-worldly affairs, politics included. Of course it does -- which is why we consult the Scriptures and the fathers in the faith on these matters. But what do we find in these sources? Often that we have previously failed to note the distinct means and ends of the various spheres that God has instituted. Indeed, both the Church and the state are God's. But they have different purposes (salvation of sinners versus the restraint of the harm caused by sin), different constituencies (all the redeemed across time and space versus all the created within certain geographic borders), different authorities (special revelation versus reason/natural revelation), and different means (the supernatural tools of preaching and the Sacraments versus the natural means of the sword and the purse-strings).
Both Church and state are God's wonderful gifts, and they are spheres in which Christians can faithfully labor to the glory of God and for the good of our neighbors. But we dare not identify the two, limiting the Church to natural tools, or suggesting that political activity can produce genuine righteousness. For we are "dual citizens" and will remain so until Jesus comes to put an end to our pilgrimage, and to identify all our loves as one. --ben sasse