Sunday Replay 12.21.08

Let’s just get this out of the way first – BRRRRRRR!!! – It was 2 degrees when worship began at 10:00 AM, the wind was howling like crazy, and I had seriously wondered if we should cancel services.  I didn’t expect much in attendance, but to my surprise we had a full house with some new faces!

The worship band did a good job with their first Christmas service together – the traditional carols and hymns sounded great with a little tweaking to “contemporize” them. 

We finished out our “Joy to the World” message series with “Receiving the Gift,” focusing on the revelation of the Gospel in the Christmas story.  Jesus’ birth was announced as “good news” for all people – not just good people or holy people.  God also sent word that we are objects of His pleasure, and that the intention of it all is so that He will be glorified and we’ll have the peace of knowing that everything is OK between us and Him.  We looked at John’s summary statement of the Christmas story, from that famous verse in John 3:16: For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in “

In spite of the cold and the wind, we had a great turnout for our “Financial Peace University” preview.  I’m personally excited about this course – Vicki and I will be students right along with everyone else! – and after getting a little taste of Dave Ramsey’s teaching, we’re raring to go!  I think we have 13 or 14 families signed up!  If you are still interested but have not enrolled yet – DO NOT WAIT until Sunday to talk to me!  Call me at the office, home, or cell, or send me an email ASAP.  We need to order the kits right away so if you wait until after Christmas, you might not make this session.  Don’t worry though, we plan on offering FPU again in the fall.

If you are interested in the vision and direction of Jubilee – you do not want to miss this Sunday!  We will be talking about “Changing the World from a Cornfield.”   We’ll be casting some big, scary vision – definitely not for the faint of heart or the “church as usual” crowd – the kind of vision we KNOW we have to depend on God to see become a reality.  Come prepared to be challenged and stretched!

This is the second to the last of our “Sunday Replays” – after the first of the year I plan on changing up some things on the blog, and will not do the recap of Sunday like we’ve been doing.  We will be putting the messages up on the website – still looking for a free sermon player to link to – to allow people to get a sneak preview or get caught up there.

2008 is almost over – a year of great change and building momentum.  Thanks for all you do!

Have a great week and Merry Christmas!