Weekly Message / Prayer Request

Acts 2:42 Mens Fellowship


“Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.” 3 John 11 NIV


As I was considering Christmas during my daily devotionals, my mind was drawn to the deep meaning behind this glorious day. It was the day upon where a Savior was born to rescue us from our sinful depravity. A day upon where we received a gift bestowed to all of us from our heavenly Father. A day upon where the void between us and God was covered by the cross.

This is the true meaning of Christmas…

Yet it is hard to keep this in focus at times because the world bombards us with messages about Christmas solely based upon materialism and an opportunity to get new stuff. The world has even attempted to remove any special significance to this day by wishing people ‘Happy Holidays’ and eliminating almost everything which has the word Christmas.

Nevertheless as Christians, as the Church, we are called to separate ourselves from this mentality and keep our mind focused on the true meaning of Christmas. Our actions from the heart should demonstrate to others the love of Christ and what Christmas is really about.

The passage shared from Apostle John at the beginning, about how Gaius was to imitate Demetrius as the correct role model to his actions, is a great Christmas message to all of us.

We are called to imitate Christ, not to imitate the world. And what is powerful about this message from 3rd John is that this transformation necessary to imitate Christ is not something we must do completely out of our own effort. We do not have to go through a checklist of our actions and see if this imitates God or the world. We do not have to ask ourselves every moment of the day if what we are doing is of the mind of Christ. We do not have to even ask ourselves if we are acting Christian. We only have to do one thing—see God today and allow Him to work in us!

The Apostle John makes it clear that people who does what is evil is not of Satan, but instead are people who have not seen God. They are people who are still from God, but have not seen His glory. This is how we ensure that we are imitating what is good. We constantly look to see God and fill our lives with the knowledge of Him.

Paul speaks of this alienation we experience when we do not see God and how this transformation occurs when do see Him in Colossians:

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” Colossians 1:19-20 NKJV

Brothers, the Lord has led me to share this message because of how important it is for all of us to look toward the cross and see God this time of year. The world tries to deceive all of us into believing that Christmas is nothing special and that it is really all about buying gifts. The world tries to get us so busy that we forget to slow down and look at the true meaning of this time of year.

Therefore let us pray that all of us may see God today and allow Him to work in our lives. Then all of us will be able to share the true meaning of Christmas to a world which so desperately needs to hear the message of salvation, the message of truth.

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What a powerful message brought forth this weekend by Pastor Ken Long on this very topic. I recommend listening to the message on the website if you were not present. It will be good to see all of you on Wednesday!!


Prayer requests

David – pray that presence of the Lord will be visible to others in order to influence others toward Christ

Ernie – pray for a revival within Northshore and that the Spirit will move within the Church

Kelcy – pray for continued health of wife and continued strength throughout daily living

Tim – pray for health and that any medical issues be resolved in the coming weeks

Dick – praise for job opportunity, pray that strength will be provided for new job

Mark – pray for upcoming transitional period of new addition to family, pray that I will have strength to follow the will of God in my life

Gary – pray for strength in working with IRS, praise and prayer for staph infection, pray for stepdaughters in their struggles

***Pray for relationship building throughout the Northshore Christian Church


Continued prayer needs

Ramon – pray for strength in his daily life, pray for the continued healing of wife

Carmine – pray for relationships with coworkers in building bridges of communication

Norman – pray for daughter with clinical tests this week trying to determine cause of seizures

Chad – pray for continued seeking of purity in his life

Larry – pray that the marriage ministry will begin to make a larger impact on the Church

Michael – praise for Michael finding a Church in Alabama for himself and family

*** pray also for the men’s ministry in developing Godly leaders


Future Meetings

Wednesday, December 12th, 7:00-9:00 pm, regular meeting at the Northshore Christian Church (call Mark for directions)

Wednesday, December 26th, 7:00-9:00 pm, regular meeting at a location to be determined (We will discuss this meeting time and location on Wednesday)


Challenge

May we find peace and power within our inner being in order to build unity throughout the Church…