The Day that Changed the World – Pt. 2

Last Sunday we thought about some of the evidence which exists as confirmation of the virgin birth and the primary reason God came down from heaven in Jesus Christ. He came “down” to actually dwell on earth in the company of mere human beings. While God is utterly transcendent and distinctly holy and there is a huge “righteousness gap” between God and man, the message of the incarnation is that God has acted to bridge the gap. Christ came so that we could know God as Father – not just know “of” Him but know Him personally and intimately. Fantastic news . 
 
Not surprisingly, we’re told in Luke 2 that when Mary heard the shepherds report of the angels Good News delivery that she “. . .treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).  Today we’ll return to Luke to ponder what it means to treasure the Good News.   
 
Merry Christmas and God bless, (Fear Not, Good News, A Savior, Unto You) 
 
Will (for the pastors)

The Day that Changed the World

We all know the story: God sent an angel to a young girl named Mary to tell her that she would have a child. She was to give Him the name Jesus. What made this particularly unusual was that Mary was a virgin. She was not married and had never been with a man. This birth was going to be a miracle. God was going to bring a life into the world in a way that was different than He had ever done it before and has ever done it since. That’s what we sing about and celebrate at Christmastime – the Incarnation. One of the questions we’ll ponder today is this, “Do you really believe that this is true?”  

Fear Not, Good News, A Savior, Unto You, 

Will  (for the pastors)

Youth Department’s Christmas Program 2010

 
Today is our youth departments’ Christmas Program presentation.  This is always a special Sunday for us here at PCC.  It is a day when we sit back, watch, and enjoy the kids live out and act out what they have learned during the year.  It’s a time of fun and laughter and wonderment.  All in all, it is a time when we get to view the Christmas story in a different way…through the eyes of our children.  

We trust that you will enjoy the presentation, but more importantly, our prayer is that we will all put our focus on the real reason for the season, and truly celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.   Have a wonderful day and blessed Christmas season.
 
God Bless,
 
Your Pastors

Graduation Sunday 2010

Bringing the message today is a “graduate” of PCC’s youth ministry, Richard Fowler.  Richard is currently living in Washington D.C. where he is an admissions coordinator at Georgetown University Law Center.  He is also a co-founder/associate director & treasurer of Phoenix Freedom Political Action Committee – a public education organization that focuses on increasing awareness of surface transportation policies and enhancements in urban centers across the U.S.

We continue to encourage our young people, and we look forward to hearing what God has placed on Richard’s heart.
CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2010!

Boxes, Strings, Ladders and Birds

During our time in the word today, amongst other things, we’ll be thinking largely about the following two quotes:

Firstly, “. . . confess your sins to each other” which is a rather serious, biblical command found in James 5:16.

Secondly, we’ll consider a quote found in the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer where he begins to describe how churches unwittingly establish an environment that drives believers away from obedience to the command above from James, “He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be the Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, Common Prayer, all their fellowship and service, may still be left to their aloneness. The final breakthrough to communion -to community- does not occur because although they have fellowship with each other as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout-as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner.”

Looking forward to discovering more of true life with you,

Will