Sermon Preview
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
If I were to ask you to choose your favorite passages in the Bible about God’s grace, which ones would you think of?
Well, let me add one passage for your consideration. And it’s one that is likely absent from all our lists of verses.
Check out the words that follow from 2 Samuel 12.
And the Lord sent Nathan to David(v. 1)
Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”(v. 7)
“Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?(v. 9)
It may surprise you that I’ve included these verses among those from the Bible that speak of God’s grace. But I believe that, while the word ‘grace’ does not appear here, what we see in action is nothing less than a powerful example of God’s marvelous grace!
Of course, when we first think of grace we think of saving grace, and rightly so. But the saving or redeeming grace that we know from our Father through His Son is also a sanctifying grace. So this divine grace not only reclaims the sinner from guilt, death, and hell, it also begins to transform the sinner into a son of God, one who is holy and obedient.
It is this sanctifying grace that we encounter in this passage from 2 Samuel 12:1-9. David, the believer, but also the great sinner who is far from the Lord, will experience this grace in a most powerful and even embarrassing way. You can read about this in verses 1-7.
Our message on Sunday will deal with three components of the grace that we discover in this passage.
1) God’s grace seeks the disobedient, sinful believer.
2) God’s grace illuminates the sin in the believer’s life.
3) God’s grace convicts the believer of his or her sin.
So we might think of sanctifying grace as seeking, illuminating, and convicting.
Let’s pray that as we explore the riches of this passage from the Lord’s Word that our view of His amazing grace will be made much deeper for His glory and honor.
Mission Report This Sunday
Our final missions report for this fall will come from our own Ken Burnett. Ken is the Area-wide Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes here in North Alabama. And as you know, he is also our Assistant to the Pastor for Student Ministry.
Along with his wife Angie, Ken takes the Gospel to the multiplied thousands of students, teachers, and coaches in our Middle and High Schools all across our region.
We look forward to learning about the ways the Lord has blessed this great work!
Youth Bible Study
Speaking of Students, just a reminder that our Middle and High School Bible Study will be this coming Lord’s Day at the Church from 4:30-6:15 PM.
Second Sunday Lunch
And don’t forget our Second Sunday Lunch immediately following our Worship Service! I look forward to a blessed time of great fellowship!
I love you all, and you are always on my heart!
Mike
Upcoming Events:
Nov 10, 12 PM – Second Sunday Fellowship Lunch
Nov 10, 4:30 PM – Youth Group at Church
Nov 12, 9 AM – Mother’s Morning Bible Study
Nov 12, 6 PM – Women’s Evening Bible Study
Nov 13, 10 AM – Women’s Morning Bible Study
Nov 13, 6:30 PM Seniors Fellows & Wives Night Out at Luciano
Nov 19, 10 AM Bags of Blessings Food Pickup at Sam’s
Order of Worship:
You can access this week’s Order of Worship by clicking here
If you’d like to sing the songs with your family beforehand, the songs for this week are:
By Thy Mercy
What Wondrous Love is This – Hymn 261, all 3 verses
Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross – Hymn 264, all 4 verses
Hark the Voice of Love and Mercy (It is Finished)
Announcements:
Men’s Morning Study:
The men are meeting at Panera at Bridge Street on Tuesdays at 6 AM to study Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. If interested, email darondrown@gmail.com
Transportation for Jean Terry to Worship
Steve Terry’s treatment, which will take place in Arkansas, will be a long process – 42 weeks. So, we as a church body have the opportunity to serve this sweet family during the difficult road ahead. One way we can serve and bless them is to provide transportation for Jean Terry, Steve’s mom, to and from worship service. A link is provided to sign up if you are able to help in this manner. Please contact Kim Fohrell if you have questions about serving. Click HERE to volunteer to drive Ms. Jean to and from worship service.
College Student Care Packages:
The young ladies of Christ Pres are putting together care packages for our college students once again this year. Please let us know a good address for your students so we can send them a little something to let them know they are in our thoughts and prayers. Parents, please use the Google Form to give us the information needed to get these to our students.
Over the next couple of weeks we will be collecting items to send to our college students in these Christmas care packages. There will be a box by the table in the Narthex that you can place your items in. We welcome two dozen of any of the following items: health bars, popcorn, snacks, Christmas cheer/treats, gum, gift cards, personal notes, school supplies, or any other smallish item that you think would brighten someone’s day in the midst of exams. Thanks for showing our students that they are still a valued and prayed for part of our local Body of Christ. See Amy Drown with any questions.
Men’s Lunch Groups:
Men’s Lunch Fellowship Groups are forming. More information and sign up sheets may be found in the Narthex. For questions please see Norman Dean.
Youth Group:
Youth Bible Study for Middle and High School is the following dates:
Sunday November 10–4:30 PM at the Church
Sunday November 24–4:30 PM at the Church
Sunday December 8–4:30 PM at the Church
Second Sunday Lunches:
Please click the link HERE to view the sign up for our November Fellowship Lunch on Sunday November 10th.
Many of you remarked to me that you’ve only been able to come to one or two lunches because of forgetting or making other plans – well let me encourage you to mark your calendars! 😉
We plan to continue each 2nd Sunday of the month from December through May. The May lunch will most likely move to the 3rd Sunday because of Mother’s Day.
November 10, December 8, and January 12 are the next three coming up. Please make plans to join us in the Fellowship Hall after worship. And please welcome visitors to stay and join us to eat!
***A word of thanks to all the MANY helpers who prep, set out tables, serve the meals, bring food or dessert or tea, and those who linger to clean up – THANK YOU for making these lunches a great success. It is a pleasure to work alongside you and serve the church body this way.
Sincerely in Christ,
Denise Brown
Women’s Fellowship Opportunities:
The Christmas Brunch for the weekly bible studies is December 4th.
The annual Ladies’ Christmas Dinner is Tuesday, December 10th, at 6 pm at Huntsville Country Club.
Mark your calendars for these fellowship opportunities. Contact Denise Scrip for any questions.
Senior Fellows:
Here is a list of Senior Fellows events for November:
Nov 13 – 6:30 PM Seniors Fellows & Wives Night Out at Luciano
Nov 19 – 10 AM Bags of Blessings Food Pickup at Sam’s
Roots Retreat:
Check this space for updates on the upcoming youth retreat for the teens in our presbytery. The Roots Retreat will be January 24-26, 2020. This year’s guest speaker is Daniel Hightower. Daniel is the RUF campus minister at Jacksonville State University (and former Youth Director at Grace Presbyterian Church in Fort Payne).
Prayer Requests:
Healing: Please pray for the health of the following individuals: Steve Terry, John Baxter, Bill Cowley, Larrabee Kirkland, Chris Smotherman, Elizabeth Holton, Janet Chou, and Nolan Osmer.
Expecting: Please pray for the Thoms, expecting in November, and the Brackins, expecting in March.
Ministries: Please pray for the following missionaries and ministries: Seth and Jessica Lewis (Ireland); Steve and Rita Williams (New Zealand); Vinnie and Molly Athey (RUF at UAH); RUF at Alabama A&M; Ken and Angie Burnett (FCA).
Emails:
general inquiries: admin@christpreshamptoncove.org
benevolence needs: benevolence@christpreshamptoncove.org
counsel and ministry needs: matthew@christpreshamptoncove.org
men’s ministry: men@christpreshamptoncove.org
women’s ministry: women@christpreshamptoncove.org
children’s ministry: children@christpreshamptoncove.org
youth ministry: youth@christpreshamptoncove.org
senior fellows: seniorfellows@christpreshamptoncove.org
Address:
288 Old Highway 431
Owens Cross Roads, AL 35763