O come let us adore Him!

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, a time in which the Christian Church celebrates the coming of Christ and looks forward to the second coming of Christ. Here is an idea, take some time starting today to focus on what Christ has done for us in coming for you and me. Here is a great tool I just found. Kim and I will be using it to celebrate, hope you will join us. Let me know your thoughts.

http://www.ctkraleigh.org/mediafiles/advent-devotional.pdf



Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, NC, has put together this Christ-centered devotional for families and churches, which I would warmly recommend.

ENJOY!

God is soo good!

What an awesome day yesterday at Central! The Worship was dynamic, how could it not be when in the contemporary services the Gospel Ensemble Rocked the house and in the Classic Service, the sweet aroma of God's people praising and praying. The congregation was connected, lots of comments about how the service impacted lives. The place was packed with guests and newcomers, met new people each hour that God is bringing through His own unique way. Then to culminate it all with over 240 people at our first annual Thanksgiving Dinner Worship Celebration. WOW! the fellowship, the praise, the testimonies, the worship, the connection, it was a powerful picture of what the church is to be, then the challenge we all received to get off our seats and get invovled with our community through our 12 days of Christmas outreach just was the cherry on the top! How do you feed that many people such great food, that was hot, and right on time? Only at Central! It just reminded me of how honored we are to serve in this place, a church that gets it!

listen to the Spirit, please!

I am once again blown away by the way the Father intimately is involved with our lives. Last night i was preparing for a medical procedure Tuesday morning, and I was feeling a bit down, not anxious, just down, with all the prep I had to do for this procedure, when I received an email out of the blue from someone i never hear from who had something they wanted to share with me that God put on their heart. It was a video card, and it was like the Father just stepped into my house, put His arm on my shoulder and lifted my spirit. It was an instantaneous thing. So when the Spirit puts something on your heart, listen please, and do it, you never know how this will lift the spirits of someone else.

while they were praying...

I just participated in an unbelievable evening of God pouring out His spirit on our Church during Prayer and Bible Study. We were studying the attributes of God and the interaction about the SO WHAT to every attribute we studied was so powerful to hear what the Spirit was saying to each person. Then we started our prayer portion and the worship, the singing, the prayer, the praise, the Scripture. It was a powerful representation of what it means to see God pour out His spirit while we were praying, God you are soooooo good!

Prayer for a new president

I recently came across this and it is well written and a good point for us to keep in mind as we approach Wed am!

Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President:

I do not yet know your name, but in a few days you will be elected to our nation’s highest office, and become the leader of the free world at the end of a long and engaging election season.

I wanted you to know that I will be praying for you. Not praying against you, or about you, but for you. That is both my pledge, and my obligation as a follower of Christ. In the Bible, the apostle Paul writes, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

And I will do so with a full and undivided heart.

I will be praying for you from my position as a father of four children, and God willing, future grandchildren; that you will have the foresight to think through what your decisions will mean for them as the next generation.

I will be praying for you as a citizen of the United States; that you will seek wisdom from God and humbly submit yourself to His leadership as you lead our nation through economic turbulence, domestic divides, and cultural diversities.

I will be praying for you as a member of the global population; that you will work with other well-intentioned leaders from around the world as we face environmental challenges, wars and rumors of wars, and humanitarian crises.

And finally, I will be praying for you as a Christian; that you will encourage faith in God to flourish and never allow deeply held spiritual convictions to become a matter of ridicule, instead encouraging everyone to grant them a respectful hearing, even if they go against the political policy of your party.

It is being widely spoken that the next president will inherit more that needs immediate attention than any other president in recent memory. As a result, it has been a hard-fought and hotly contested election. Yes, I will vote, and I do not know if you will be the one for whom I cast my ballot. But following November 4th, all that must be set aside no matter how deep the divides may be.

So while I do not know if you will be the candidate I voted for, I do know that no matter your name, I will support you in one way without question.

I will be praying for you.

James Emery White


Sources

Scripture reference: I Timothy 2:1-2, New International Version.

For an online community committed to praying for our leaders that is both non-political and non-partisan, see www.presidentialprayerteam.org.


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