From Nate

announcements regarding CCC's Youth Ministry: 1. Parents' Meeting this Sunday, January 9th from 5 to 5:45 in the Sanctuary before Youth Group. Your attendance is very much encouraged and appreciated. We'll be passing out and discussing calendars, updating you on what the youth ministry has been doing, handing out snack sign-ups, communicating our vision, and giving you an opportunity to ask questions and meet the youth leaders. 2. Parents of Middle School Students, the deadline for early registration for the Middle School Mid-Winter Retreat is this Sunday, January 9th. If you haven't received any of the informational emails about this retreat, please let me know, and I will send one to you. The cost goes up from $99 to $110 after Sunday. You can register your middle schooler by handing me a check made out to Christ Community Church. Also, remember that there are scholarships available for students. My desire is for every student who wants to come to come, so don't hesitate to ask about a scholarship.

Classes start Sunday 10am

LEARN

education and training

2011 New Adult Education Classes

Several education classes will be offered this semester beginning at various dates and times. Please see the list below for class description and beginning dates.

Beginning: January 9th at 10:00AM

"The God Who is There" by D. A. Carson

A stimulating video series and discussion which explains the Bible's storyline in order to learn about one's role in God's ongoing story of redemption. This series brings a birds-eye view of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation that will be very helpful for those who are beginners in the faith as well as those who want a better understanding of the flow of God's written word.

"Getting to the Heart of Parenting" by Paul Tripp

A wonderful parenting conference recorded live on DVD for parents of all age children from infant through teens. Parenting is more than using your power to get children to behave in certain ways. Parenting is all about the exposure and change of the child's heart. When the heart of a child changes the behavioral change that is needed will last. Learn how to be an instrument of heart changing grace in the little moments of life that God will give you with your children, whether they are toddlers or teens.

"Love Walked Among Us" by Paul Miller

What is more difficult to learn than love? How do you love someone when you get no love in return—only withdrawal or ingratitude? How do you love without being trapped or used by the other person? How do you love when you have your own problems? When do you take care of yourself? How do you love with both compassion and honesty? When you are compassionate, people use you; but when you are honest, people get angry. What is love? Jesus arrived at the home of his good friends, Mary and Martha, several days after their brother Lazarus died. Mary, in the passionate way of the ancient Near East, threw herself weeping at Jesus' feet. Overcome with grief, Jesus weeps with her. Several bystanders comment, "See how he loved him!" (John 11:36). In this book we'll join the bystanders of Jesus, look at Jesus, and see how he loved.

Beginning: January 23rd at 10:00AM

Next Step Class

Being connected to each other is what Christ Community is all about. If you are interested in learning more about our church or interested in membership you will want to take this class. During this four-week course we will provide an overview of who we are as a church and what we feel called to as God's people in Gainesville. This four-week class is being offered on Sunday mornings during the adult SS classes from 10-11AM on January 23, 30, February 6 and 13. This is a required class for anyone pursuing membership at Christ Community.

Beginning: February 6th at 8:30AM

"Financial Peace University" by Dave Ramsey

More than one million families have attended this entertaining video series with amazing results. You'll learn how to get out of debt, build wealth, find bargains, invest for the future, give like never before, learn to communicate as a family about money, develop a monthly spending plan that really works, understand credit scores and credit ratings, and the world of insurance. This information will change your life.

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from our website

Our Schedule:
8:30am Worship Service, with childcare provided
10:00am Classes for all ages
11:15am Worship Service, with childcare provided

Meeting Location:
1603 SW 122nd Street
Gainesville, FL 32607
352.379.4949
(map)

Downloads
January 9, 2011 Worship Folder (8:30 & 11:15); Community in Action Flyer

Psalm 13

I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your
salvation.

I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

No public prayer for Auburn on Sunday

Despite written requests from several families:

Stankunas
Tate
Tolar

Christ Community will NOT be making prayer for Auburn over Oregon.

Christian Study Center

This semester the Christian Study Center will be offering:

 

A Director's Class for students only on Hebrew wisdom from Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Psalms.

A four part series on the ramifications of technological change.

A four part cinema series.

Two sessions with authors Leo Sandgren and Chuck Hill.

A six-week reading group for Lent.

A Graduate Roundtable reading group.

A lecture by reformation historian Euan Cameron.

 

Please check our website atchristianstudycenter.org for updates and schedule changes.

All classes and groups meet at the Christian Study Center, 112 NW 16^thStreet, just one block north of University Avenue. All classes and groups are free and open to the community, except where noted.

a prayer for staff meeting

SOVEREIGN GOD,

Thy cause, not my own, engages my heart,

   and I appeal to thee with greatest freedom

   to set up thy kingdom in every place where Satan reigns;

Glorify thyself and I shall rejoice,

   for to bring honour to thy name in my sole desire.

I adore thee that thou art God,

   and long that others should know it, feel it, and rejoice in it.

O that all men might love and praise thee,

   that thou mightest have all glory from the intelligent world!

Let sinners be brought to thee for thy dear name!

To the eye of reason everything respecting

   the conversion of others is as dark as midnight,

But thou canst accomplish great things;

   the cause is thine,

   and it is to thy glory that men should be saved.

Lord, use me as thou wilt,

   do with me what thou wilt;

   but, O, promote thy cause,

   let thy kingdom come,

   let thy blessed interest be advanced in this world!

O do thou bring in great numbers to Jesus!

   let me see that glorious day,

   and give me to grasp for multitudes of souls;

   let me be willing to die to that end;

   and while I live let me labour for thee

   to the utmost of my strength,

   spending time profitably in this work,

   both in health and in weakness.

It is thy cause and kingdom I long for, not my own.

O, answer thou my request!

God is proving a point

The Nile is the source of the first two plagues, which is fitting retribution to Pharaoh for attempting to use the Nile against the Israelites.  In light of this, it is best not to think of this plague of frogs as presenting merely a nuisance and annoyance to the Egyptians.  It is, like the first plague, a pointed theological statement: Yahweh is bigger than the gods of Egypt and will unleash the forces of creation to drive this point home.

 

-Peter Enns

Children, our idolatry, and the plague on frogs

This is really good, I think.  From Phil Ryken

"In the Egyptian pantheon, the frog-goddess Heqet was the spouse of
the creator-god Khnum. The Egyptians believed that Khnum fashioned
human bodies on his potter’s wheel, and then Heqet breathed into them the
breath of life. She was the agent of life-giving power and also the symbol
of fertility.
The Egyptians relied on Heqet for two things in particular. One was to
control the frog population by protecting crocodiles, the frog’s natural predators.
Obviously, when Egypt was overrun (or overhopped!) with frogs,
Heqet was humiliated. This plague proved that she was powerless to resist
the mighty strength of the Lord.Heqet’s other responsibility was to assist women in childbirth. Since she
was the spirit who breathed life into the body, women turned to her for help
when they were in the pains of labor. This suggests that there may be a connection
between the second plague and Pharaoh’s sin against the Hebrew
midwives. Remember that the book of Exodus began with attempted infanticide.
In his effort to exterminate the Israelites, Pharaoh commanded the
Hebrew midwives to kill Israel’s baby boys (Exod. 1:15, 16). When his evil
plan failed, he ordered the infants to be thrown into the Nile (Exod. 1:22).
Given that background, it seems significant that God’s first two plagues
struck blows against the gods of Egypt’s river and the goddess of Egypt’s
midwives. It was a matter of strict justice: God was punishing the Egyptians
for their sins. The very river that Pharaoh used as an instrument of genocide
was turned to blood, and the first goddess to be humiliated was the one
who governed labor and delivery. There was a connection between Pharaoh’s
crime and God’s punishment.
What is equally important is the connection between Egypt’s gods and
our own postmodern deities. Our method for studying Exodus is practical,
and one of the most practical ways to study the plagues is to recognize that
we are tempted to serve the same idols. The question to ask about the second
plague is this: In what ways are we tempted to worship Heqet?
To answer this question, we have to understand why the Egyptians
worshiped Heqet in the first place. It was because they desperately wanted
to gain control over childbirth. In the days of modern medical care it is easy
to forget how dangerous it is to give birth — dangerous not only for the baby,
but also for the mother. For most of human history, in most parts of the world,
childbirth has been a potentially life-threatening experience. When an
Egyptian woman went into labor, fearing both for her own life and for the life
of her newborn child, her only comfort was to cry out to Heqet for the breath
of life.
Childbirth is a spiritual matter, and the issues that surround it are among
the most difficult spiritual issues most women ever face. Many single women
long to share their love with a child. Some married women are unable to have
children. Others lose children through miscarriage. Then there are all the
anxieties that come with actually conceiving, bearing, and delivering a child.
Surely the most difficult thing of all is to give birth, only to lose the child.
These sufferings all find their ultimate cause in humanity’s fall into sin.
God said to Eve, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain
you will give birth to children” (Gen. 3:16a). This curse refers not only to the
physical act of childbirth, but to all the losses and frustrations that are associated
with it.
In times of discouragement it is tempting to turn to Heqet. Some couples
make a sacrifice to the goddess of fertility by getting an abortion. When there
are questions about how the fetus is developing, as there often are, they
submit to the pressure to terminate the pregnancy. Other couples abuse various
forms of birth control. While it is sometimes appropriate to regulate
when a woman gives birth, birth control should never be used as a way of
avoiding God’s command to be fruitful and multiply. Eventually some couples
will use the knowledge of the human genome to produce designer children
whose genetic material is altered to prevent certain diseases or even to
guarantee certain attributes or abilities. Others make the quest for a child an
idolatrous obsession. This is not to say that some forms of fertility treatment,
including various forms of medication, are un-Biblical. Nor is it to
say that Christian parents should not pursue adoption, which is a beautiful
picture of God’s love for his lost children. But it is to say that couples should
not place their supreme confidence in some course of treatment or in some
adoption agency, but in God himself, for he alone is the giver of life. The
birth of a child is not a human project but a divine gift from a sovereign Lord.
One reason not to trust in Heqet is that she does not have the power to
comfort her worshipers. Only the true and living God is able to bring healing
to the deepest hurts in a woman’s heart. Some of the most courageous
women I know have lost children before, during, or shortly after childbirth.
In the bitter pain of their suffering, there were times when they were tempted
to turn away from God. But in the end they were drawn closer to God as
they experienced his mercy for their sorrow.
I think of my own mother-in-law, Elaine Maxwell, who lost her only son
the day after he was born. During her pregnancy she was exposed to rubella;
so Jack was born with a hole in his heart. It was the kind of loss that a
mother never forgets, which probably explains why, when she walked into
an art show twenty-five years later and saw a sculpture of a perfect baby
boy, she burst into tears. It brought back the memory of such grief that she
had to leave the exhibition. But when she returned she noticed that the baby
was resting in two strong hands and that the sculpture bore the title, “In the
Hands of God.” Since this is where she had left her son — in God’s hands
— the sculpture is now displayed in her home.
It can take a long time to accept the will of God, and usually it takes even
longer to understand it. Sometimes a woman never fully comprehends why
everything surrounding childbirth brings such suffering. But the only way
to experience true healing for life’s deepest hurts is to place them in the hands
of God. Those who worship Heqet will never experience the comfort God
gives to everyone who trusts in him."

He sees Jesus and clings to Him

"A special faith in our Lord Jesus Christ's person, work and office is the life, heart and mainspring of the Christian character.  He sees by faith and unseen Saviour, who loved him, gave Himself for him, paid his debts for him, bore his sins, carried his transgressions, rose again for him, and appears in heaven for him as his Advocate at the right hand of God.  He sees Jesus and clings to Him…..He sees his own many sins, his weak heart, a tempting world, a busy devil; and if he looked only at them, he might well despair.  But he sees also a mighty Saviour, an interceding Saviour, a sympathizing Saviour—His blood…..His righteousness, His everlasting priesthood—and he believes that all this is his own.  He sees Jesus and casts his whole weight on Him.  Seeing Him, he cheerfully fights on, with a full confidence that he will prove more than conqueror through Him that loved him…Habitual lively faith in Christ's presence and readiness to help is the secret of the Christian fighting success fully." 

-- J C Ryle, Holiness

Read thru the Bible in 2011

Bible Reading Plans: There are lots of ways to read the Bible in a year, and I won't try to capture all of them.... http://bit.ly/gmDxpZ

--from Justin Taylor

A Prayer for Year’s End

O Love Beyond Compare,

Thou art good when thou givest,

when thou takest away,

when the sun shines upon me,

when night gathers over me.

Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,

and in love didst redeem my soul;

Thou dost love me still,

in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.

Thy goodness has been with me another year,

leading me through a twisting wilderness,

in retreat helping me to advance,

when beaten back making sure headway.



Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;

I hoist sail and draw up anchor,

With thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of my past.

I bless thee that thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.



If thou hast appointed storms of tribulation,

thou wilt be with me in them;

If I have to pass through tempests of persecution

and temptation, I shall not drown;

If I am to die,

I shall see thy face the sooner;

If a painful end is to be my lot,

grant me grace that my faith fail not;

If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,

I can make no stipulation;

Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,

as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.



--from Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan Prayers

Light

In all of the Bible's references to light, light is not self-generated.  It comes (usually unbidden) from outside the earthly and human sphere with a transcendent splendor.  As a symbol light thus pictures the simultaneous transcendence and immanence of God: it is from above, but permeates everyday life.

A survey of light imagery in the Bible illustrates the implied thesis of this dictionary—that the main outline of biblical belief and the feelings it generates can be traced by following the Bible's master images.  Light in its varied meanings is at the heart of such central biblical themes as creation, providence, judgment, redemption and sanctification.  It embodies much of the theological teaching of the Bible about God, which explains why light has been so prominent in the history of theology.  In its literal, physical manifestations, moreover, light contributes significantly to the elemental quality of the biblical world, keeping spiritual reality rooted in the lives that people actually live.

The text that comes the closes to summarizing the range of meanings of light is 2 corinthians 4:6…… For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ…… Here is the link between creation and new creation, between OT and NT, between the physical reality and the spiritual symbol.

From the Dictionary of Biblical imagery 

6:30 Christmas eve

Our Carols & Candlelight Service

6:30PM

Childcare provided

Invite friends and family.

Shall be great to be in our sanctuary for our 1st Christmas Eve.

As With Gladness Men of Old

As with gladness, men of old Did the guiding star behold As with joy they hailed its light Leading onward, beaming bright So, most glorious Lord, may we Evermore be led to Thee. As with joyful steps they sped To that lowly manger bed There to bend the knee before Him Whom Heaven and earth adore; So may we with willing feet Ever seek Thy mercy seat. As they offered gifts most rare At that manger rude and bare; So may we with holy joy, Pure and free from sin's alloy, All our costliest treasures bring, Christ, to Thee, our heavenly King. Holy Jesus, every day Keep us in the narrow way; And, when earthly things are past, Bring our ransomed souls at last Where they need no star to guide, Where no clouds Thy glory hide. In the heavenly country bright, Need they no created light; Thou its Light, its Joy, its Crown, Thou its Sun which goes not down; There forever may we sing Alleluias to our King!

Friday, invite a friend

Congrats to Rick and Christina

Reagan Katherine Kingsley, born 4:14, 7 lbs even, 19 3/4 inches. Mom
and baby are doing great.

God is pleased with and kindly disposed toward us

"Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit…..If then, we would be assured that God is pleased with and kindly disposed toward us, we must fix our eyes…on Christ…We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ.  We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else." 

  John Calvin

The WORD

Scott McKnight: For John there are almost certainly allusions to Wisdom

 and Torah when he uses the word “Word.” It is entirely reasonable

 to think, also, that some would hear the Logos of the Greek world

— that by which all things cohere. 

Staff Change

I am writing about a change on Christ Community's staff. As of


this week, Justin Piazza is no longer on staff at Christ Community.

After careful consideration, prayer and a series of meetings together,

we have mutually agreed that it was not a fit. I have always been

encouraged by Justin's heart for God--this was NOT about any lack of character!--,

 and I am confident that this

decision is in everyone's best interest.



Christ Community will be drawing on volunteers to lead most of our

worship services in the near future, with youth director Nate Taylor

leading monthly. There will be no search for a staff replacement

before May.



While this change is not something we expected (when Justin joined us

12 months ago) I know that what God has in store for Justin and for

CCC is good. Please be in prayer for Justin and his family, and for

Nate and the volunteers who will guide our music over the next four

months.



Know that I am happy to talk through any questions or concerns with

you. I am available after the service as well as in the office this

week.



I am grateful for your dedicated service and your love for Christ

Community Church.





--

Rob Pendley

Christ Community Church

www.cccgainesville.com

today's notes

Crèche to Cross

The whole of Christ's life was a continual passion; others die martyrs, but Christ was born a martyr.  He found a Golgatha, where He was crucified, even in Bethlehem, where He was born; for to His tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thornsafter, and the manger as uneasy at first as the cross at last.  His birth and His death were but one continual act, and His Christmas Day and His Good Friday are but the evening and morning of one and the same day.  From the crèche to the cross is an inseparable line.  Christmas only points forward to Good Friday and Easter.  It can have no meaning apart from that, where the Son of God displayed His glory but His death.

--John Donne

Colossians 1

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

for some reason I'm thinking--

--that there is only one service Sunday

and that it is at 10am

Matthew Henry comments

      Austin says (de Civitate Dei, lib. 10, cap. 29) that his friend Simplicius told him he had heard a Platonic philosopher say that these first verses of St. John's gospel were worthy to be written in letters of gold. The learned Francis Junius, in the account he gives of his own life, tells how he was in his youth infected with loose notions in religion, and by the grace of God was wonderfully recovered by reading accidentally these verses in a bible which his father had designedly laid in his way. He says that he observed such a divinity in the argument, such an authority and majesty in the style, that his flesh trembled, and he was struck with such amazement that for a whole day he scarcely knew where he was or what he did; and thence he dates the beginning of his being religious. Let us enquire what there is in those strong lines. The evangelist here lays down the great truth he is to prove, that Jesus Christ is God, one with the Father. 

True

The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing to find the place where all the beauty came from. C.S. Lewis

Rob Pendley

Jesus is Lord

Revelation 1:8

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, 

says the Lord God, 

who is and who was and 

who is to come, the Almighty."

The Word

Change o' plans  

Sunday i'm preaching on "the word(s) of Christmas" (exile, immanuel, life, word). 

In English translations, John 1:1 reads, "in the beginning was the Word." The Greek term translated "Word" in this verse is the word logos. We see this word incorporated into a variety of technical terms such as biology (a word about living things) and theology (a word about God).

Though the translation of the term logosis the simple term word, it must be noted that logos carried a lot of philosophical baggage in the ancient Greek world. Ancient Greek philosophy was concerned with answering the ultimate questions of reality. They were seeking to find ultimate truth. They wanted to find the ultimate reality that lies behind all other things.

Over time, as the ancient philosophers pondered these questions, they came up with a term to describe this ultimate reality, and the term they came up with was logos. The logos came to be understood as that which gave life and meaning to the universe. Within the realm of Greek philosophy, however, this logos was largely understood to be an impersonal force, not a personal being.

--Robert Charles Sproul

http://www.ligonier.org/iphone/devotional/1496/

Isaiah 9:2

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who
dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.

Draco Malfoy and the Mothers of Jesus

Sunday we're going to look at the women God selected to highlight in Jesus' family tree.

You'd expect Mother Teresa types, right?

Nope.  Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba

 

Not a "perfect" bloodline, we shall see.  But it is the perfect bloodline to highlight the gospel and to trample over any sense that we earn our way to special-ness through our own stuff.

 

stop reading here if you don't have a favorite quidditch team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While prepping this message I'm reminded of this quote:
"I really don't think they should let the other sort [half-bloods, muggle-born] in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families." - Draco

This is War

This is war like you ain't seen. 
This winter's long, it's cold and mean. 
With hangdog hearts we stood condemned, 
But the tide turns now at Bethlehem.  
 
This is war and born tonight, 
The Word as flesh, the Lord of Light, 
The Son of God, the low-born king; 
Who demons fear, of whom angels sing.  
 
This is war on sin and death; 
The dark will take it's final breath. 
It shakes the earth, confounds all plans; 
The mystery of God as man.  

random random

Like some people (myself included) would want to watch Kobe Bryant play basketball---just because he's so good at it.

 

I want to watch a round-table discussion on the question:
"What can we learn about God from grammar and punctuation?"

Addcox, Richard Horner, and Carter Davis

 

i'd pay to hear that discussion

Looking for cash

Shutterfly promised me a pricebreak if I blogged Christmas card, so I caved.

Rob Pendley

Luke 2

Luke 2:11

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

See it at YouVersion.com:

http://bible.us/Luke2.11.NIV84

Rob Pendley

got it

Holy Family Religious

Unique party invitations and announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Wipe it out

"The main thing we learn from a serious attempt to practice the Christian virtues is that we fail.  If there was any idea that God had set us a sort of exam and that we might get good marks by deserving them, that has to be wiped out.  If there was any idea of a sort of bargain—any idea that we could perform our side of the contract and thus put God in our debts so that it was up to Him to perform His side—that has to be wiped out….everyone has the idea of an exam or of a bargain; the first result of real Christianity is to blow that to bits."   CS Lewis

J.I. Packer on the Incarnation of Jesus Christ

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/packer/incarnation.html

 

ClAssic

Kids