Dear Grace City family and friends, As 2017 draws to a close, we have so much to be grateful for! Though numbers don’t even begin to tell the whole story of how God is transforming lives through you, here are a few quick highlights: 1 full-time pastor added to our staff 2 more clean water wells fully funded 3 new missionary ministries supported 5 more baptisms this Fall 10 youth participated in our first summer camp 250+ first-time guests at our Christmas Eve service Even though we’ve accomplished much together over this past year, there’s so much more to...
Text: Matthew 1, Luke 1-2 | Listen to Message Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room Woven into the glad tidings and great joy of The Christmas Story are the mini-narratives of three individuals who were not ready to receive Jesus as King. 1. King Herod missed Jesus because he didn’t want to lose power or control (Matthew 2:1-18). Herod had spent his entire life strategically consolidating power through a series of marriages, murders, building projects, and wars. A practicing Jew, he’d convinced the Roman Senate to recognize him as the undisputed “king of the Jews” – and a client-king of Caesar....
Text: Luke 20:27-44 | Listen to Message Christian Heretics More and more nationwide research confirms the disturbing data behind the shocking (infuriating?) headline: “Survey Finds Most American Christians Are Actually Heretics” (The Federalist, October 10, 2016). For example, of self-described Evangelical Protestants, . . . Over 1/3 don’t read the Bible even once a week. Only 55% believe the Bible is the Word of God and should generally be interpreted literally. 8% don’t believe the Bible is the Word of God. 38% believe humans evolved rather than being created by a direct act of God as Genesis describes. 28% strongly agree...
Text: Luke 20:9-26 | Listen to Message Checking Our Addiction to Power One of the most stunning claims in the Bible is that the Jewish religious leaders knew Jesus was the Messiah . . . and they killed him anyway. Let that sink in: God’s people had waited more than forty generations for their Savior-King, and when he came their spiritual guides concluded that he was not the kind of Messiah they wanted, and they had him murdered. Why? Because they loved power and control more than they loved God. This is what Jesus shows us in “The Parable of The...
