Parenting Teenagers

Hear ye! Hear ye! Richard & April Horner are taking the baton from Frank & Suzanne Matthews. The Matthews have, I'm told, done a wonderful job of laying out the Bible's teaching on parenting, particularly of younger children. (I've seen the teaching outlines and they look great!)

Now, the Horners... parents of a high schooler and 2 univ. students will take over. 9am in the media center, starting Sunday October 28.

The Gospel According to Mark

Sunday we are continuing our series on Mark’s gospel. We will enter a new section of Mark’s gospel–Mark 3:7-6:13. by way of review... here is helpful summary of where we've been, Mark 1:1 thru 3:6
As Jesus came preaching that the critical moment in redemptive history had finally come. The kingdom of God had drawn near in his very person. As proof that this was the case, Jesus cast out demons,healed the sick, and called disciples to follow him. He even forgave sins. Soon huge crowds followed Jesus everywhere he went. But even as Jesus was preaching the good news about the kingdom of God, the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees were offended by almost everything Jesus did. Jesus ate
with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus and his disciples did not observe the fast as did the Pharisees. And
Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Although Jesus outraged the scribes and Pharisees, his actions were
indicative of the fact that he was Israel’s Messiah and the Son of God. Sadly, even though Jesus came to
bring salvation to his people, the scribes and Pharisees were now conspiring with their political
enemies–the Herodians–to find some excuse to put Jesus to death. Jesus came to bring salvation to
God’s people. But it was becoming clear that Jesus’ mission would be opposed by those very people he
came to save. --Kim Riddlebarger

Seeking Holiness by Grace

“For my own part, I desire constantly to stand at the foot of the cross, with no other testimony concerning myself than this —

I the chief of sinners am, But Jesus died for me.

Personal holiness is to be sought for with all our hearts, and it can only be obtained by faith in Jesus Christ — by simple faith in Him. He gives us power to overcome sin through his precious blood. Christ is made of God unto you “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption;” in Him be all your glorying, and in Him alone, for if not so, the rubbish will cover up the foundation. “I know whom I have believed.” None but Jesus, none but Jesus.

“Personal holiness is to be sought for with all our hearts, and it can only be obtained by faith in Jesus Christ…”

There rests our souls’ only hope, upon His precious blood and righteousness; every other hope we heartily abhor. Well, the foundation is laid. Blessed be God for that! When a man is brought to rest alone in Jesus, then there is laid for him in Zion a sure foundation-stone, and to that he is cemented by sovereign grace.”

C.H. Spurgeon

Reformed Means Zealous for God's Glory

Sunday is "Reformation Sunday" celebrating

in a strange way.... i think the way you honor your fathers in the faith is to seek to do in your generation what they did in theirs... NOT seek to bring their style of ministry & life into OUR generation.... so the way you show you are reformed is by not talking about being reformed but by being zealous for the same things they were... and one of those is the glory of God.

(October 31 is typically known as Reformation Day)

helpful stuff:
--Woltersdorff quote (that dude has THE HARDEST name to spell!)
--JI Packer's preface to John Owen's DEATH OF DEATH in the death of Christ
-- the God Alone class CCC is offering 'rat now' on Sundays at 9am

On Being Reformed

i am forever returning to this quote to broaden my understanding of what it means for a Christian or a church to be "reformed".....
“It’s a style of life that gives prominence to the conviction that God is creator; hence it is that
we give thanks to God for the goodness that surrounds us. Secondly, it incorporates a deep and powerful sense of the fallenness of all things, understood in such a way that there is a strong impulse to resist all attempts to draw lines in the sand, with the explanation that human fallenness occurs on this side of the line and not on that side of the line. Fallenness runs throughout our entire existence—indeed, through the cosmos.
Corresponding to this comprehensive view of sin is then an equally comprehensive view of faith and salvation... In short, I think that at the heart of the Reformed tradition is a passion for totality, for wholeness, for integrity, for not allowing life to fall into bits and pieces but to constantly ask, ‘What does my faith—what does the gospel of Jesus Christ—have do with this and what does it have to do with that?’ And then never being content with the answer, ‘Nothing!’” --Nick W.
--more much more to post

Not a single shred !

“Retain a single shred or fragment of legality with the gospel, and you raise a topic of distrust between man and God. You take away from the power of the gospel to melt and to conciliate. For this purpose the freer it is the better it is.”
- Thomas Chalmers, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection”

"To believe a thing is to see the cool crystal water sparkling in the cup. But to meditate on it is to drink of it. Reading gathers the clusters; contemplation squeezes forth their generous juice."
Charles H. Spurgeon

Mondays at 1:00 we pray...

... the staff of Christ Community, that is. If you would like to request prayer, email
lizette AT christcommunitychurch DOT com

An explanation of today's worship service

Today Christ Community Church is being recognized by the North Florida Presbytery as a member congregation. This means that we have elders and pastors installed to serve and lead. The presiding minister, Rev. Rod Whited, and others from the presbytery are here to enact this event. From this time on Christ Community Church has the authority to ordain our own officers.

Why are we governed and served by elders? We find in the Scriptures instruction on how Christ desires his Church to be led. This includes elders who have exhibited lives that are joyfully dependant upon Christ and living in the power of His grace. They have been tried and approved to have the character and wisdom to serve and lead the church family with humility, boldness, and love. The qualifications for elders are found in Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3.

What difference will this make in the life of Christ Community Church? The changes should be subtle and strengthening. The core values and vision of Christ Community Church remain the same.

How should I be encouraged by God today? Primarily that Christ cares for His people. Are you a long-time member of Christ Community Church? Be encouraged that God has answered our prayers and used our meager efforts to establish something that He plans to use for years. Are you newer to Christ Community Church? This is an opportunity to rejoice that God has been at work to do us good a long time before we actually experience His grace and love. This is a pattern of our great God.

What’s up with all the vows? What you are participating in today is both witnessing and making vows. If you are a member of Christ Community Church you are entering into a relationship with elders through vows. Everyone is promising to look to Christ for strength to carry out their God-given roles. And God is delighted to resource His children!

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in y o u will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

–The Apostle Paul, to the church at Philippi

The Church's one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation,
by water and the word:
from heaven he came

and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.

--Samuel Stone, 1800’s

What a scene!

Then he stood still a while, to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked, therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks. Zech. 12:10. Now as he stood looking and weeping, behold, three Shining Ones came to him, and saluted him with, "Peace be to thee." So the first said to him, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," Mark 2:5; the second stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with change of raiment, Zech. 3:4; the third also set a mark on his forehead, Eph. 1:13, and gave him a roll with a seal upon it, which he bid him look on as he ran, and that he should give it in at the celestial gate: so they went their way. Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing,

"Thus far did I come laden with my sin,
Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in,
Till I came hither. What a place is this!
Must here be the beginning of my bliss?

Must here the burden fall from off my back?
Must here the strings that bound it to me crack?
Blest cross! blest sepulchre! blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me!" --bunyan "Pilgrim's Progress"

The Church of God

CCC will have her 1st ever elders ordained on Sunday. In Acts 20 the apostle Paul gives some amazing words of instruction to the Ephesian elders... pray these things for Mike Marshall, Charlie Staples, Larry Eubanks, Frank Matthews, and the chief sinner--Rob Pendley.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock,
in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Keller book sounds good

and it sounds great... read about it here-- you can also pre-order it:

Our Sure Footing

“If I am a new creature in Christ, then I stand before God, not in myself—but in Christ. He sees no longer me—but only him in whom I am—him who represents me, Christ Jesus, my substitute and surety. In believing, I have become so identified with the Son of his love, that the favor with which he regards him passes over to me, and rests, like the sunshine of the new heavens, upon me.

In Christ, and through Christ, I have acquired a new standing before the Father. I am ‘accepted in the beloved.’

My old standing, that is, that of distance, and disfavor, and condemnation, is wholly removed, and I am brought into one of nearness, and acceptance, and pardon—I am made to occupy a new footing, just as if my old one had never been. Old guilt, heavy as the mountain, vanishes; old dread, gloomy as midnight, passes off; old fear, dark as hell, gives place to the joyful confidence arising from forgiveness and reconciliation, and the complete blotting out of sin.

All things are made new. I have changed my standing before God; and that simply in consequence of that oneness between me and Christ, which has been established, through my believing the record given concerning him. I come to him on a new footing, for I am “in Christ,” and in me there has been a new creation.” - Horatius Bonar, “Christ and the New Creation”

Easier than we think

I just invited a family to our October 28 Fall Festival. They are new friends from school and were absolutely delighted to be asked. So why am I still so slow to ask?

October 28 at 4:00 Fall Festival & Chili Cookoff... Oh by the way, I'm making my soon-to-be-famous "Pendley's Hollerrr Chili"

A Town Hall Meeting about adding the 2nd service

On Sunday October 28... immediately after the worship service there will be an opportunity to meet with Rob Pendley, Frank Matthews and another elder about the plan to launch a 2nd service in January 2008. While this decision was reached after much prayer, discussion, and counsel we know that some may need more information or simply to be heard. We hope to create a space for you to:
--ask questions
--express concerns
--etc

The meeting will be held in the Student Center.

Moving to a 2nd service in January 2008, why?

1. Opportunity

A. To reach new people... our mission statement is
Christ Community exists to experience & extend the grace of Jesus Christ
B. To develop new leaders
C. To stretch Christ Community

2. Need
A. Christ Community needs "eyes lifted" to see the harvest
B. Theater has "full" sense on at least 2 of 4 sundays

Additionally, when the elders were discussing this in early September a major point was this:
When CCC moves into the building on Parker Road we will have 344 seats. This means that we would be going to a 2nd service during our first month in our new facility! The elders felt that the growing pains associated with adding a 2nd service would better be experienced in the familiar environment of Oak Hall. This would free Christ Community to fully enter into the joy of having a place to call home without simultaneously feeling the growing pains we are all feeling now.

vows members take sunday

in an effort to help you more meaningfully enter into the vows of members on sunday... i put them here:

Do you, in reliance on God for strength, solemnly

promise and covenant that you will walk together as an

organized church, on the principles of the faith and order of

the Presbyterian Church in America, and that you will be

zealous and faithful in maintaining the purity and peace of the

whole body?

Questions to Congregation2

Book of church order, section 21-6. The candidate having answered these questions in the affirmative,

the presiding minister shall propose to the church the following questions:

1. Do you, the people of this congregation, continue to profess

your readiness to receive _________________, whom you

have called to be your pastor?

2. Do you promise to receive the word of truth from his mouth

with meekness and love, and to submit to him in the due

exercise of discipline?

3. Do you promise to encourage him in his labors, and to assist

his endeavors for your instruction and spiritual edification?

4. Do you engage to continue to him while he is your pastor that

competent worldly maintenance which you have promised, and

to furnish him with whatever you may see needful for the honor

of religion and for his comfort among you?

Sunday 4:30pm CLUB 45

from 4:30 til 6 at the church house.... club 45
October 21

God is God-centered!

The foundation of our justification — our acquittal, our forgiveness — is not a flimsy sentimentality in God, nor is it a shallow claim of human worth. It is the massive rock of God’s unswerving commitment to uphold the worth of his own glory, to promote the praise of his holy name and to vindicate his righteousness.

The God-centeredness of God is the foundation of his grace to the ungodly. If God were not committed first to vindicate the worth of his own glory, there would be no gospel and no hope, for their would be no glorious God.”

- John Piper, The Pleasures of God (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2000), 166.

Vows of Ruling (aka "Lay") Elders

On Sunday.... Mike, Larry & Charlie will be making vows using the following questions:

1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as

originally given, to be the inerrant Word of God, the only

infallible rule of faith and practice?

2. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and

the Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system of

doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures; and do you further

promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with

any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine, you will, on

your own initiative, make known to your Session the change

which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this

ordination vow?

3. Do you approve of the form of government and discipline of the

Presbyterian Church in America, in conformity with the general

principles of biblical polity?

4. Do you accept the office of ruling elder in this church, and promise faithfully to perform all the

duties thereof, and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the

profession of the Gospel in your life, and to set a worthy example

before the Church of which God has made you an officer?

5. Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?

6. Do you promise to strive for the purity, peace, unity and edification of the Church?