To God’s Beloved At Cloverdale Baptist Church:
Merry Christmas:
For some of you that is a little early, usually Americans wait until after thanksgiving, and Godard’s wait until Ryan’s birthday (although Wesley Anne might add a little twist to this), but Advent is upon us, so MERRY CHRISTMAS.
It is good to fix our eyes on Jesus at such a time as this (really all times), and encourage you to start to get your heart ready in joy to focus on Jesus this season. We have three areas we would love for you to focus on this year…
- Rally around God’s call in your life to be His ambassador. We want each of us to use Christmas as an opportunity to share the Gospel with loved ones who don’t know the real meaning yet. So be in prayer (join us in a prayer meeting for this on December 5), and look for opportunities to share.
- Rejoice. Really, rejoice. No matter what you are going through, when we know God, and the truth of His Word, we can rejoice. So if you feel overwhelmed with life, or what is happening in the world, or your world, REJOICE, and use this season as a reminder that the plans of God are right and real, and the BEST! REJOICE!
- Realign all of your life to be lived for Him, and unify with His people in the things that really matter. Live life on purpose for His glory! Try to lose the focus we have on other things (Christmas can be a distraction, let’s make it a deliberate opportunity to FOCUS). This should be our focus and the calendar has built in great reminders for this! Use this reminder to realign your heart and life with Him!
Merry Christmas!
One of our main themes as we come out of COVID isolation has been unity. Being PEACE MAKERS, not peace breakers. This is not easy as our world around us is breaking into factions around so many things that are not our focus. Easy when we live in the world to think like the world and join them in these divisions. So how do we stay unified, even increase our unity during times like these?
- Humility: This is not only the entrance attribute to the Kingdom (poor in spirit), it is also the attribute of those that God blesses and gives grace to on an ongoing basis. It is realizing that wisdom comes from God, not man, and being Biblical in our pursuit of His will for His glory.
- Love: By this I mean what the Bible defines it as, a choice of self-sacrificial love in pursuing God’s best for people. It is Romans 12:10 in action, and asks how I can serve, not how I can set you straight.
- NO COMPROMISE: By this we mean not adding to God’s Word, or taking away from it. By being loyal to God, and not Pharisaical, or like the Sadducees. If our focus is on Jesus and our passion for His Word, we will find unity with all others who stay focused there.
It is way too easy to get caught up in the politics of the world and the pleasing of man if we are not careful. A friend told me recently that he agreed with our stand but couldn’t say that publicly for fear of hurting those in his, “club”. May we be those who choose to be the MOST MATURE person in the room, and love God and His people conditioned only on His grace filling our lives. May our greatest fear be displeasing Him, and may that fear chase out every other barrier to peace, joy, and mission accomplishment!
Please be in prayer for those suffering from the flood, and so many who are suffering from what is happening in life. May we as God's people shine love to the hurting and bring grace and hope into these situations. We as a church family have offered our help to flood victims and churches in the areas where this is most impactful, and are awaiting for how we can best engage (Pastor Ray is working on this).
Sunday Is Coming:
Advent Series: Sermon 1: JESUS MAKES A DIFFERENCE: PEACE
TEXT: Romans 5:1-11
As you prepare your hearts to hear from God, and love one another, read the text a few times so as to be familiar with it. It is one of the great Gospel texts of the Bible.
What is the peace that this text is talking about?
- How do we get it?
- How do we live in light of it?
- How can we pursue peace in a world that is so full of things that cause inner and outer conflict?
It is a joy to enter this advent gathering in person and online with you,
A privilege to be your servant!
Pastor Rob
Here are the questions that we would love for you to work through in community. Some of our Growth Groups do this as a part of who they are, but we want the impact of the Word of God to be larger than this, so take the time to reflect on these questions and discuss them with someone else in your sphere of influence so that we are together hearing and applying God’s Word (Matthew 7:21-27).
Growth Group Questions: Sermon On November 21, 2021
Text: Revelation 2:18-28
Title: The Compromise Crisis
Read the text:
Review: What does it mean to have a first love devotion to Jesus? How can you makes sure this is where you live, and what you are pursuing?
- How does responding well to persecution/pain help you in your pursuit of who God wants you to be? How can you learn to see pain in a biblical way (James 1:2-4)?
- How can you value God’s Word, and be intolerant of those who seek to corrupt the church with adding to God’s Word (traditionalism), or taking away from it?
- Take the time to make sure we are those who do have ears who are hearing what Jesus is saying to the churches!
- Try to live in light of what Jesus is saying to the churches, including ours!
- How is Jesus portrayed in his letter to the church of Thyatira?
- Why is seeing Jesus as the Son of God important?
- What do the eyes of Jesus show us?
- How do these realities of who Jesus is, as we practice His presence in our church family, help us to obey Him?
- What does Jesus compliment about His church at Thyatira?
- How do we make sure we are doing these things well, so that as Jesus evaluates Cloverdale Baptist Church He sees them in us?
- What does Jesus confront in this church?
- Why is compromise and hypocrisy so dangerous to the church?
- What does He promise to those who stay true to Him in the world?
- How can we live active on mission for Him in the world, but stay unstained by the world?
- Walk through the application steps from the message, and discuss how you can actively apply these to your lives:
- No Compromise:
- Never Capitulate
- Need Concentration
Prayer
- For church health and unity
- For God’s blessing
- For people struggling in pain (emotional, physical, spiritual)
- For people you know who need to hear the Gospel in you and through you (or others).