And A Little Child will Lead Them...

Sunday, December 18th will be an exciting time.  Our Youth Ministry, under the direction of April Cooper and Tiffany Thomas, will direct and perform their very own Christmas Extravaganza.  There will be singing, dancing, acting and other creative expression to celebrate the Lord's birth!  Invite somebody, tell a friend or family member and let's support our young people and the leaders who are behind them!

Operation Christmas Child

What a blessing it is to send the Gospel to the edges of the earth!  Grace packed over 400 boxes this year.  We also served as a relay center and were able to ship over 1,400 boxes.  On Tuesday, we took two vehicles to Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL and dropped our 1,400 boxes off!  These boxes will touch children in many nations where the Gospel has never been heard!  According to statistics, one box will affect 9 children.  This means that 12,600 children will be impacted by the work of Grace and other cooperating churches! 

The Bible says in Matthew 28:20 that we should make disciples of all men as we are going, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them what Jesus commanded.  What a blessing it is to sow seeds that someone else will water.  Let us be in prayer that the message of the Gospel will convict the hearts of the hearers, children and parents alike.  Let us be in prayer that there are hosts of evangelists who will lead those whom we touch to Jesus.  Let us be in prayer that the Holy Spirit will plow the ground and go before the planes that will carry these boxes overseas.  To God be the glory for the things that He has done.

Grace Convo 2017

Grace Community Church has been blessed to have our supply Pastor serve as one of the speakers for Grace Convo 2017.  Along with the recently ordained Rev. Micaiah Tanck, the two will bring messages in line with the theme "Testify".  CONVO is in Gatlinburg, TN this year and the cost is $180.00 per person.  We will engage in some fundraising efforts but we are also asking if anyone in the congregation would like to support our budding Youth Ministry, please approach an elder and let one of them know.  We'd like to take all of our youth to be a part of this event.  The attached document has more information. 

Grace Convo Packet

Jack Buck's 9/11 Speech

Thanks to Jan Murley for putting this into the bulletin.

Since this nation was founded under God,
more than 200 years ago,
we’ve been the bastion of freedom . . .
The light which keeps the free world aglow.

We do not covet the possessions of others,
we are blessed with the bounty we share.
We have rushed to help other nations . . .
Anything . . . Anytime . . . Anywhere.

War is just not our nature . . .
We won’t start, but we will end the fight.
If we are involved,
we shall be resolved,
to protect what we know is right.

We’ve been challenged by a cowardly foe,
who strikes and then hides from our view.
With one voice, we say there’s no choice today,
there is only one thing to do.

Everyone is saying the same thing,
and praying that we end these senseless moments we are living.
As our fathers did before, we shall win this unwanted war.
as our children will enjoy the future we’ll be giving.

– Jack Buck
September 2001

The Real Jesus Part 2: The Son of the Living God

We continued our study of "The Real Jesus" by discussing His Sonship and Deity and how they are interconnected on the 14th of September.  He is the only begotten Son or "monogenes" which means that there is no other like Him.  Here are our notes from the 14th.

1.      Jesus is God (in essence and person) John 1:1

 The Greek pronoun “pros” which is translated as with means that the Word was face to face WITH God.  Compare with Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Joshua who hid their faces when they were in the presence of God!  Another way to translate this passage and is brought out by Daniel Wallace.  When John says "and the Word was God" can be said this way "What WAS the Word WAS."  They are one in essence which affirms the deity of Jesus.

2. Jesus’ ministry began after He was baptized and after John was put in prison (Luke 2:21; Luke 3:15-17; Luke 3:23)

 What was His ministry? (Mark 1:14,15; 1:35-36)  Jesus came to gather up the children of God, to bridge the chasm that sin created and to establish the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.  Jesus did not preach anything different from what John preached!  When John was imprisoned after serving his purpose, Jesus stepped into is role and brought the ministry of establishing the kingdom of God to a climax at Calvary!

3.      Why was He baptized and why did He wait until everyone else was baptized?

 There are three reasons that Jesus, the Son, was baptized.  All of which pointed to His Sonship.  

1. Jesus was obedient to God’s word (Luke 3:3; Matthew 3:13-15; Luke 3:21) 

John the Baptist had reservations about baptizing Jesus because John knew that Jesus was greater than he was.  Before Jesus was immersed, He told John to permit it now because “We are right; we are fulfilling all righteousness”.  Baptized is in the passive voice i.e. Jesus allowed Himself to be baptized.  However, when Jesus commanded John to "permit it" the text uses an imperative verb.  This shows Christ's obedience to the Father AND His supremacy over John.  o    

Jesus, in His humanity, was also subject to the laws of God (1 Corinthians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 15:28). When John preached that every human ought to repent and be baptized, Jesus Christ obliged because He was a human being (hypostatic union) who was also subject to God (The Father's) requirements.  Jesus allowed Himself to be baptized because He did not want to diminish John’s ministry because he would eventually bring that ministry to completion.

2. His baptism was a picture of what he would endure (Death, burial, Resurrection). 

According to Warren Wiersbe, this was a prophetic moment and a flash of His entire life at this baptism. 

 3. His baptism was confirmation in the physical realm of what was already known in the spiritual realm (John 1:29-31; 33; Luke 3:22).   

John 1:30 states that John the Baptist was well aware that Jesus took precedence over him and was before him.  The verse contains a phrase, "he existed before me" which contains a verb in perfect tense.  This points to the pre-existence of Jesus well before the birth of John.  In Luke 3:22, there are several events that happened that all pointed to one thing: Jesus Christ is the ONLY Son of God:

 o   God opened heaven UP

o   The Holy Spirit came DOWN [pre-Pentecost]

o   The Holy Spirit was upon Him as a dove

o   A voice came from heaven (The verb came is in the middle voice which means that the Father made a conscious decision to proclaim that Jesus was the SON (came).  The voice confirmed on earth what was already KNOWN in heaven:

YOU ARE MY SON; YOU ARE BELOVED; I AM PLEASED WITH YOU

 

The Real Jesus Lesson 1: Historical Background

The first lesson from the Bible Study "The Real Jesus" is in the books.  We studied last night some historical background of Jesus in order to put the rest of the studies in context.  In case you missed it, the summary is here:

1. The real Jesus was born according to prophecy (Luke 1:30-38; Isaiah 9)

There are multiple prophecies that point to Christ’s birth.  Why is this important?  Because the prophecies also point to His divinity!  When the angel is prophesying to Mary in Luke 1:30-38, he is not talking about a mere baby but the Son of God coming into the world.  Isaiah 9 also speaks of the divinity.  Mere men don’t live forever as the prophecy states the Son of David would.  It points to the God-Man union that existed in Jesus.  He was 100% God and 100% man at the same time.  Read Philippians 2:1-10 for more on this.

 2. The real Jesus is NOT white nor black but Jewish (Luke 2:1-7)

Jesus was born in BETHLEHEM.  Not Africa and not Europe.  Luke’s gospel has been verified as a historical, eye-witness account and therefore can be trusted.  Luke writes with great detail for a reason.  Just as a history book contains details, Luke included details such that his words could be verified by anyone who read them.  Jesus was Jewish.  The prophecies were written about Him in the Jewish Old Testament and the concept of the coming Messiah was a Jewish concept.

3. The real Jesus is NOT accurately depicted in the imagery used by the church (Matthew 2:13-15; Revelation 1:15; Daniel 10:6)

                 Cesare Borgia                        …

                 Cesare Borgia                                        Forensically Reconstructed Jesus

The image on the left is Michelangelo’s depiction of Jesus.  It is stylized after his Pope Alexander VI's son, Cesare Borgia who is pictured to the far left wearing the hat.  This is not what Jesus looked like. He was not beautiful, nor was He white.  Isaiah 53 states specifically that he was not stately and was not one to be looked upon.  Reading Matthew 2:13-15 we realize something startling.  If Jesus looked like the picture on the left, how in the world could he have hidden in Egypt which is an African country?  He would have been found immediately!  A study was undertaken to determine what Jesus actually looked like.  Forensic archeologists reconstructed a model of Jesus by using a skull from the region that Jesus lived in (Judea, Galilee, Jerusalem) (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35120965).  The results were astonishing!  The image on the right is far more accurate but because it does not promote an agenda, it is not very often discussed.  He looks like a Jew from the Middle East and not a white man from Europe.  Other biblical accounts discuss his skin tone etc.  See scriptures above.  We should note here that the image on the left has been quite divisive and many African-Americans are turned off by it, believing it to be a tool of white supremacy.

4. Jesus did not spout from an Egyptian myth (see Yamamuchi, Edwin; Easter: Myth, Hallucination or History, Christianity Today, March 15th 1974; March 29th 1974)

Many documentaries have sought to discredit Christianity by saying that the resurrection of Jesus is simply a borrowed concept from Egypttian mythology.  This has been roundly debunked.  The closest parallels to a “god” rising from the dead are as follows:

a) In 150 A.D., a theory began floating around insinuating that Christianity borrowed from Egypt.  This theory surfaced 117 years after the origin of Christianity!  How could Christianity have borrowed if the Egypt theory came after Christianity?

b) The legend of Osiris, who was cut into 14 pieces, scattered around Egypt, reassembled and brought back to life by Isis is also compared to the resurrection.  There is a huge difference.  Osiris does not come to earth but wanders in the underworld (Giesler, N., “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist”, pp. 312) whereas Jesus showed Himself to many after His resurrection (See 1 Cor 15, Acts 1, John 20-21, Luke 24).  Jesus came back to earth, not the underworld and there were eyewitnesses to His resurrection.

5. Jesus is a real, historical figure who is attested to from multiple biblical and extra-biblical sources.  See the following sources for verification.

Historian Colin Hamer gives 84 examples of the historicity of Luke (locations, dates, people, details) all archaeologically confirmed.  See Colin J. Hemer, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1990.  Non-Christian historian Josephus attests to the historicity of Jesus (Flavius Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, 18.3.3 §63) and even stated that his movement did not die out long after he was crucified and ascended.  It should be noted that 3 of the 4 gospels are eyewitness accounts and pass muster when scrutinized as historical documents: John Mark was Peter’s scribe, Matthew was a disciple and eyewitness, John, the beloved disciple, was also an eyewitness with a particular agenda of salvation (see John 20:31)

 For more extrabiblical evidence, see:

vThe Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

vEvidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell

vIs the New Testament Reliable? by Craig Blomberg

See you next week!!

Fish Fry Information

As you know, the "Goin' Fishin'" Fish Fry is upon us.  Events like these are team efforts and we need everyone to pitch in.  We need the following:

1. Tent/table setup around 6:30am on the church grounds.  Tents will be mounted Friday and Saturday.

2. Those of you who will bring desserts, please don't forget them.

3. We will need a cleanup crew!  If you can't make the 6:30am setup, please stay and help us get the church grounds cleaned up!

4. If you'd like to work with traffic ministry, please see John Duncan.

5. Remember to bring at least one person who is not saved or who does not have a church home!

God bless you all and let's make this a God-glorifying event!