Weekend Review

We were blessed with an awesome service this weekend at New River Worship Center (church plant in Radcliff, KY).  The building was filled with worshipers who were intent on fulfilling their purpose. Each of us were created to offer praise, adoration, glory, and honor to the King of kings and Lord of lords. Although it is the Christmas season, we did not gather to celebrate Jolly St. Nick; we did not gather to celebrate a "holiday" named Christmas, we did not gather to celebrate the Winter Solstice; NO, we gathered to celebrate our Savior, Jesus Christ.  

The Celebration began as the Children's Ministry shared songs from various nations of the world.  These songs told the story of Jesus and they reminded us of the great love that God has for every human being in this world.  The children were taught about the importance of sharing and giving as they were taught these songs and about the people living in these nations.  They put together 37 shoe boxes of Christmas gifts for a mother and her four children in Botswana, Africa.  They learned the blessing of giving and not expecting anything in return but just the thought of knowing that the life of this family was blessed by this act of kindness.  What would happen in your life if you made a conscious effort to perform some random act of kindness and expect nothing in return but the joy of assisting someone?  The college student who sang the Call to Worship song could not sing some of the words of the song due to the tears that filled her eyes and the love of God that captured her heart.  The music for the offertory was charged with the presence of the Holy Spirit.  All that I have mentioned prepared the way for the Worship Team to lead us unto the deeper presence of God through corporate praise and worship.  "Let everything that hath breath Praise the Lord."  Our hearts were captured by Emmanuel, the name of Christ that declares that "God is with us."  

No matter what set of circumstances that we are facing we can rejoice in the fact that God is with us.  You are never alone and He will never forsake you or forget you.  Those are some of the reasons that we celebrate Christ with such hearty zeal and passion.  Remember that the true story of Christmas is real, Christ came to bring hope and forgiveness to a lost and hurting world.  Don't you think that we need to share that gift with the world?