Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
First, let’s be honest...it seems too early for Thanksgiving! This weekend we will be giving out Thanksgiving Baskets and next week families will be traveling to celebrate America’s favorite holiday full of great food, time with family, and lots of football.
Our sermon series this year has been focused around His Story and I confess that I find myself more and more intrigued by history. I’ve been reading about the Pilgrims and just recently have been reading Bill Bennett’s America : The Last Best Hope. Fascinating reading! So much time has past since the first Thanksgiving, that often we forget what it is all about. Here is a timeline of our Thanksgiving holiday:
· 1621 - Pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated a harvest feast in Plymouth, Mass.
· 1777 - George Washington and his army on the way to Valley Forge, stopped in bad weather in open fields to observe the first Thanksgiving of the new United States of America.
· 1789 - President Washington declared November 26, 1789, as a national day of "thanksgiving and prayer."
· 1800s - The presidential thanks-giving proclamations ceased for 45 years in the early 1800s.
· 1863 - President Abraham Lincoln resumed the tradition of Thanksgiving proclamations in 1863. Since this date, Thanks-giving has been observed annually in the United States.
· 1941 - President Roosevelt established the 4th Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
We will have a FCC Thanksgiving Service, Tuesday, November 24, at 6:30. Lord willing we will share Scripture, sing songs, and thank the Lord corporately. Our focus will be Psalm 34. Here are a few of the verses from that Psalm of David.
1I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.
2 My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.
8Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
The title in most Bibles connect this Psalm to 1 Samuel 21: 10-15, where David was delivered from danger by acting crazy. This is not his finest hour, yet he says, “I will extol the Lord at all times.” What about your personal history? Can you say with David: “his praise will always be on my lips”? FCC: Let us exalt his name together!
Sermons from Joshua/Champ Callahan
Hey FCC,
Here are a couple of sermons from Joshua that I preached in 2003...
Taking Possession.doc (43.00 kb)
The Battle is the Lord's - public.doc (46.50 kb)
I am so excited that Champ Callahan and his family are returning to FCC in a couple of weeks! He will be in a concert on Saturday night, June 20 at 7 pm, at FCC, and then will lead worship on Sunday morning, June 21. Would you mark you calendars? Pray? Invite someone--especially for Saturday night? I'm looking forward to it!!
May the Lord continue to bless our church as we lift up His name in worship!!
David in His Story
Our next sermon series will be "David in His Story." For those who like to read ahead, here is our preaching schedule (Lord willing!!):
May 31 - "After His Heart" 1 Samuel 13-16
June 7 - "Goliath" - 1 Samuel 17
June 14 - "Patience" - 1 Samuel 22-24
June 21 - "Bathsheba" - 2 Samuel 11-12
June 28 - "Serving in Our Generation" - Acts 13: 36
I really struggled with jumping from Exodus to 1 Samuel. We are skipping some really good stuff found in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy--but especially in Joshua, Judges, and Ruth! I'm grateful for the adult Sunday School class that has been studying Joshua and Ruth. In 2006 we experienced The Old Testament Challenge and preached through the Old Testament. For those of you who are interested, I've posted my sermons from Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy:
Number Your Days.doc (46.50 kb)
Loving God's Word.doc (41.00 kb)
Next week, I will post my 3 sermons from Joshua and Judges. Please don't feel obligated to read these, I just wanted to help fill in the gaps. You are obligated to report any typos! I haven't proofed these...just posted them...no telling what mistakes were there in 2006!
Mark your calendars for June 19-20! Champ Callahan will be in concert at FCC on Saturday night and then lead worship on Sunday morning! I'm excited about this time of worship that the Lord is preparing!!
Have a great week!
Mike
How Big is Our God - Louie Giglio Sermon
This morning our message was from Moses' experience at the burning bush with the great I AM! I showed a 13 minute clip from Louie Giglio's sermon...it is worth watching the entire message (it's 40 some minutes long). Here is the link to Louie's sermon:
The ending is the best part!
I'm so grateful that we serve a BIG GOD! Remember: God is I AM. I am not, but I am His!
Have a great week!
Moses in His Story
We had a great Easter weekend!! To God be the glory!! The Lord allowed us to proclaim the Good News of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and to talk about "The Hinge" of His Story...This Sunday we are going to begin a new series on "Moses in His Story." Here is the worship schedule so you can read ahead...the actual titles may change. I'm excited about our time together in Moses!
April 19 - "The Lord of History" Exodus 1 and 2
April 26 - "I AM" Exodus 3 and 4
May 3 - "Plagues/Passover" Exodus 5-12 (we will share in the Lord Supper together)
May 10 - "Exodus" Exodus 13-15
May 17 - "The Wilderness" Exodus 16-18
May 23 - "Mt Sinai" Exodus 19-20
May the Lord bless you as you read and prepare for worship each week!!
Easter is Coming!
The next two Sundays we will be wrapping up the incredible role of Joseph in God's story. This week we will looking at Joseph as the steward of Egpyt and what kind of Stewards we need to be. On April 5, we look at the climax of Joseph's story with perhaps the greatest Old Testament story of forgiveness. The reading schedule is listed in the previous worship post...
It is amazing that Easter is coming so quickly!! Please be praying for our Easter services that God will draw families to hear about our resurrected Lord!! Lord willing I will be preaching from this text:
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11: 25
In another week or so, I will post the reading schedule for Moses--who we will be covering after Easter.
See you in worship!!
Joseph in His Story
We wrapped up "Abraham in His Story" yesterday...it was such a powerful reminder of the faithfulness of God who kept His promise throughout history to bless the world through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob...and us! The redemptive promise was given to Abraham, was fulfilled in Jesus, and continues through us! Amazing.
Sunday we are beginning "Joseph in His Story." Some have asked to have the preaching schedule so they can read ahead...here it is:
March 8 - "Dreams" Genesis 37
March 15 - "Temptation/Integrity" Genesis 39
March 22 - "Prison" Genesis 40-41
March 29 - "In Charge" Genesis 41: 41-56
April 5 - "Forgiveness" Genesis 42-45
Please note that the exact titles of the messages have not been selected, but I have listed a general topic. Also, the specific verses to focus on have not been narrowed down, but this gives you an expanded text to read the background. The Joseph story goes from Genesis 37 to 50. You may just want to plan on reading the whole story in one setting, and then come back and prepare for each week. May the Lord bless our journey with Joseph!
His Story
Welcome to our new worship blog!! This year we are going through God's story from beginning to end, and simply calling the series, "His Story." I just recently began reading Louie Giglio's book i am not but i know I AM by Louie Giglio. He writes this in the opening chapter:
"Life is the tale of two stories--one finite and frail, the other eternal and enduring. The tiny one-the story of us-is as brief as the blink of an eye. Yet somehow our infatuation with our own little story--and our determination to make it as big as we possibly can--blinds us to the massive God Story that surrounds us on every side."
YES! It is the massive God Story that we are looking at each week in 2009.
Some have asked for the sermon topics in advance for their reading. That's awesome! This is what we have covered so far in 2009:
Jan 4 - "Faith" from Hebrews 11
Jan 11 - "In the Beginning" from Genesis 1
Jan 18 - "The Resistance" from Genesis 3
Jan 25 - Mar 1 "Abraham in His Story"
Here is the future schedule...Lord willing.
Mar 8 - April 5 "Joseph in His Story"
April 12 - Easter
April 19 - May 24 "Moses in His Story"
May 31 - June 28 "David in His Story"
I will try to lay out reading for his character prior to launching that particular series. May the Lord give us an understanding of the Massive Story of God that has been unfolding throughout history. I am sure open to feedback...
Blessings!