Black Friday
Black Friday. It’s a day where marketers are vying for our attention. The promise of life-changing deals on everything, from clothing to new technology, bombard us from all directions. Companies are desperate for us to spend money on their products. It is out of control. In any case, the good news of Black Friday is that Christmas is not far away. As followers of Jesus, our hope is not based on getting the latest gadget or upon making Christmas “magical” for our children. Instead, our rock solid hope is in the baby that was born in a Jerusalem stable over 2,000 years ago. This Sunday marks the first of the Advent season. Advent means “coming,” and each year during this season we celebrate the first coming of Jesus, as we also anticipate his second coming. We have entitled this year’s advent series “The Light of the World” because we will be spending the weeks leading up to Christmas in the first chapter of John’s gospel, exalting “the true light, which gives light to everyone” (John 1:9). Join us on Sunday as Pastor Jared preaches on John 1:1-5, a truly majestic passage of Scripture. And on this Black Friday, take a moment to fight against the materialism of our age and read John 1. Dwell upon the One who came and dwelt among us. See you on Sunday, Pastor Eric...
Pray for Las Vegas
Bruce Ashford has written a helpful article, about how Christians should respond to the shootings in Las Vegas At Hope Fellowship, we grieve with those who are grieving in Las Vegas, and also are praying for those friends and loved ones who have been affected by this senseless act of evil. Please pray for Grace Point Church and Pastor Ty Neal as they seek to minister to ...
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A Great Book to read at Christmas
One of my favorite books about the incarnation is The Incarnation in the Gospels in the Reformed Expository Commentary series. I highly recommend it as a collection of sermons that are very encouraging and edifying to read and think about this Christmas season....
Keep ReadingWhy we must think in a Christ-Centered Way
At the heart of the gospel and the Christian life is the person and work of Jesus. If Jesus is most excellent and above all and if Jesus is worthy of all the praise of the universe, then it would follow that for our thinking to be what Paul is calling for in Philippians 4:8, “If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise†then it must find i...
Keep ReadingJosh Moody Article on Justification
Dr. Josh Moody, Sr. Pastor at College Church in Wheaton, joined us on Sunday morning, October 14. He preached from Galatians 2:11-14 "How One Long Word Can Make a Big Difference to Your Life." Dr. Moody wrote an article on justification that has been posted on Christianity Today Online. Since we have been going through our doctrinal statement as a church, and Dr. ...
Keep ReadingWhy we should pray for our children to know Christ at a young age
I picked up Thomas Watson's "The Godly Man's Picture" off my shelf today and began reading the section, "the godly man strives to be an instrument for making others godly."Watson writes, "The godly man is not content to go to heaven alone but wants to take others there. Spiders work only for themselves, but bees work for others."He then applies it to how we might encourage...
Keep ReadingA Prayer We Should All Pray
Have you ever paused when someone asked you how they might be praying for you? It can be an awkward moment when we try to determine how much to share, or even what we feel is truly worth sharing. Sometimes, if we are honest, we can even respond with a request that we ourselves are not personally praying for! So how might we be praying for ourselves and seeking for other...
Keep ReadingRecommended Biographies about Missionaries for Children
I wanted to recommend a few resources that we have found really helpful and enjoyable for our girls as they have begun reading over the last few years. ...
Keep ReadingQuotes from the cutting room floor
So often each week as I prepare for the sermon I have a number of quotes that I have read that were personally encouraging but didn't fit into the sermon. It is my goal each week to post some of these quotes on Friday for your encouragement....
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