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New Year’s Prayer Requests
(Next worship service: January 9 at FCC: 3450 CR210, 32259)
It is almost the New Year, and I know a number of you have a discipline of praying at the beginning of the New Year. The Lord has been doing some wonderful things in and through the lives of those at First Coast Missional Communities. So I wanted to invite you to pray “Up, In, and Out” for First Coast Missional Communities.
Up: Please pray for our relationship with God…
1) for sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit, especially for our leaders.
2) for continued renewal of faith, hope, and love in our lives.
3) that God would remain central in our worship gatherings.
4) for our eyes to be opened more and more to what God is up to on the First Coast.
In: Please pray for our relationships with each other, especially in our discipleship huddles
1) that we’d continue to build one another up.
2) that we’d equip one another as disciples
3) that we’d “spur one another on” to love and good deeds.
4) that God would protect our sense of community.
5) for a new huddle that is forming.
Out: Please pray for us as we go out to serve.
1) that God would lead us to people of peace.
2) that we’d love our neighbors well!
3) that we’d grow in terms of opportunities and skills for sharing the good news of the gospel in our words and actions.
4) that God would bless the ministry partnerships we enjoy – especially with Young Lives.
Finally, pray specifically for
1) Kent as he preaches at our worship gathering on January 9
2) Norma as she begins serving at the National Cemetery through the Jacksonville Women.
3) for our relationships with co-workers.
4) for opportunities for those who are being discipled to disciple others.
5) for the upcoming retreat (February 12-13)
6) for the mission trip to Nicaragua (June 4-11).
Merry Christmas!
Jesus told his disciples,
“As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you!” (John 20:21)
Have a blessed Christmas, and may the Lord give you opportunities to bless others!
Christmas Eve – some of us are gathering for the Candle Light service at Faith Community Church at 6:00. (3450 CR 210, 32259). Our pastor has a role in the service. If you don’t have other plans, come on out and celebrate Christmas with us!
FCMC’s next worship celebration gathering will be on the 2nd Saturday of January!
Christmas in June in Esteli, Nicaragua
Emanuel means God With Us!
To live missionally means to live in awareness that God has a mission and that it’s a privilege to be invited to take part in it. God invites us into His mission! Christmas marks a milestone in God’s mission. For in Jesus, God himself enters into this messed up creation to redeem it and make it new!
What does this have to do with Nicaragua?
Jordan and Seth are home from college. At lunch,they were remembering the last time the three of us were in Nicaragua together. It was a difficult time for me. Leading the trip had fallen to me kind of late in the process when another leader had to drop out. I’m not sure I would have agreed to it, otherwise. I was discouraged about several things in ministry, and was facing some major challenges in the church I was serving. At times, I felt overwhelmed. When we left for Nicaragua, I was weary. When we arrived, I was exhausted.
That year, during the middle of the week, our hosts took us out to experience a Central American Soccer game. This was not on the schedule, but our friends in Vida Joven encouraged us to go and were excited to show off their home team, Esteli Real. They were playing against a team from Korea that was associated with an athletic ministry in New York City. At the half-time break, the Korean team did a dance performance before a Spanish speaking Nicaraguan crowd to a song called “Great Big God”… which was in English.
I remember thinking, “Somebody messed up. The only ones in the crowd who could understand the song were the English speakers – maybe a few hundred people in a crowd of 30,000!”
Later that night, I couldn’t sleep and wasn’t feeling well. I got up and sat in the hotel bathroom and things started coming to mind. I remember feeling uncomfortable and mildly miserable. I started thinking and praying about the stuff I was facing back home. By praying, I mean complaining to God and wondering if he cared at all about me, my stuff, and the challenges I faced.
And that’s when I sensed God drawing my attention back to the “messed up” half-time show.
On a trip to Esteli – which I wasn’t too excited about,
At the soccer game – which I hadn’t planned to attend,
I heard a song in English – which I could understand,
About a Great Big God – who is bigger than the problems I faced.
And that God was present with me in Esteli, Nicaragua.
Emmanuel means “God With Us!” God was with me in my mess.
The truth of Christmas on a mission trip to Esteli in June. Boy, did I need to be reminded!
The next night we went to a CLUB. The talk was about David and Goliath and we were told (in Spanish and English), “Don’t tell God how big your problems are. Tell your problem how big your God is.” Apparently, God knew the point needed to be driven home.
When I came back home, the challenges did not go away. For that matter, they got worse. But they also got much smaller in my eyes. God, Emmanuel, God who IS with us WAS with me and so much bigger than my problems!
And that’s part of Christmas we need to remember. We want to see God’s Kingdom advanced, but the problems in our groups, churches, communities, and cities can look so big until we get a sense of the size of the God who is with us!
Oh Lord, open our eyes and remind us again who you are!
By the way, we are returning to Nicaragua next summer. We have come to experience and believe that spending a week serving there along side our brothers and sisters in Esteli helps us to live and serve with greater energy, intelligence, imagination, and love here. Get in touch if you’d like to come with us!
3Things: Christmas is Coming
Don’t Know Where to Go For a Christmas Eve Service? Here’s an idea: Do you have a neighbor who says they go to church, but you know they rarely do? Ask them if you can go with them to their church on Christmas Eve. Experience it with them. You may come away with neighbor who becomes a friend.
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A number of us will be worshiping with Faith Community Church on Christmas Eve. (Our pastor has a role in the service). We are deeply grateful for our partnership with FCC. They are wonderfully focused on using their facility to be a blessing for the community. Not only do they hold community wide events (like Breakfast with Santa and Fifth Quarters after football games), but they go out of their way to allow other community organizations and even churches to meet at their facility. The Scouts, YMCA, Open Bible Studies, Helping Hands, Young Life, a traveling Veterinary clinic, and many more. It’s pretty awesome when a church gets it like that (in my opinion).
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Our next worship gathering will be on January 9, 2016 in the St. Johns Room at Faith Community Church. Hope you can join us. If not, FCC is open Sunday Mornings. Worship is at 10:00!
Posted in Discipleship
Tagged Christmas Eve, Faith Community Church, worship, Worship Gathering
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Worship Gathering Saturday!
The Kingdom of Heaven is near. Believe the good news! The God of glory has come to us!
We will be worshiping this Saturday night in the sanctuary of Faith Community Church (3450 CR210, 32259) at 6:30 pm. We’ll be singing, celebrating the Christmas season, and hearing what God is up to on the First Coast.
Hope you can make it! Jesus has promised to be present!
Remember, you go no where by accident. Wherever you are, God is sending you. Wherever you find yourself, God has a reason for your being there. Christ, who lives in you by the power of the Holy Spirit has something he wants to do in you and through you wherever you find yourself. Believe this and go in His grace, strength, and power.
Posted in Discipleship
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