Posts by Faith Community Church (Page 12)

Dear Faith Community Church Family, It was a rough day for the Apostle Paul. After a riot at the temple in Jerusalem, the Roman commander brings the Apostle before the Sanhedrin to “get the facts straight.” The Sanhedrin was the highest Jewish court in Israel. Paul can barely get one sentence out of his month before things once again get ugly. In fact, Luke says that the…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, He is risen! It was a joy to hear many of you speaking these words to one another in our church hallways on Sunday morning. What a privilege it was to gather for both our Good Friday and Easter Sunday services to worship our Lord together. I want to say a special thank you to everyone who served in various ways at our Good Friday…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, The opening words of Psalm 22 are probably familiar: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Even if you didn’t know that they are the words of David from Psalm 22, you might recognize them as the words spoken by Jesus as he hung upon the cross. Jesus speaks these words in utter pain shortly before his last breath. In the opening verses of…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt the week of his arrest and crucifixion the crowds gathered to celebrate the entrance of the King. The religious leaders, however, urged Jesus to silence the people. Jesus’ response to the Pharisees is a clear message of his kingship over all creation: “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, Luke and Acts are two volumes of one book. The story of Jesus’ death and resurrection begins near the end of the book of Luke and continues into the book of Acts. In Acts, the Apostles frequently bear witness to their King by suffering. Through their suffering they were pointing to the Suffering Servant, who gave his life for the sins…

Dear Faith Family, This Sunday, Pastor Rhett will preach from Acts 21:1-16 on the topic of “Paul Goes to Jerusalem”. Paul faced many trials on his missionary journeys, and Paul finds out that he is certain to face more trials as he reaches Jerusalem on God’s errand. Are you facing trials or difficulties, even as you serve our Lord? Know that our Lord will guide you and…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, This Sunday, Don Johnson will share from Psalms 42 and 43. Together, these two psalms express the psalmist’s longing to be in the presence of the Lord. “As a deer pants for flowing streams,” the psalmist prays in the opening verse of Psalm 42, “so pants my soul for you, O God” (Psalm 42:1). I encourage you to read Psalms 42 and 43 prior to…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, In this Sunday’s text we will listen in on Paul’s speech to the elders of the church in Ephesus. It is the last time the leaders of the Ephesian church will see the Apostle Paul. The speech is filled with both warmth and warning. The love Paul has for the Christians in Ephesus is seen throughout these verses, as is his concern that they guard…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, This evening we will gather for our Lenten prayer service at 6:30pm in the Worship Center. As I shared in last week’s Midweek Update, Lent is the season of preparing our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. One focal point of Lent is repentance. For the Christian, repentance is not a one-time thing. It is a way of life. Here is how…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, The season of Lent is a season of preparation. It is the forty-day period that culminates in the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. Throughout the forty days of Lent we prepare our hearts through confession, prayer, and repentance. Next Wednesday evening (March 2) we will gather together for our Lenten prayer…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, In this Sunday’s text, we see Jesus’ power and superiority over all powers and principalities in the account of the sons of Sceva in Acts 19:8-20. First, we see how the Holy Spirit empowered Paul to heal the sick and to release people from demonic oppression. Second, we see the gravity of violating the third commandment in the misuse…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, Christian maturity develops as we grow in our understanding of who God is, what he is like, and how he works in the world. In the days of the early church (as in our day), the church needed individuals like Priscilla and Aquila to disciple Christians by helping them grow deeper in their understanding of the Scriptures. This Sunday,…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, One of the great privileges we have as children of our heavenly Father is access to him through prayer. As his children he invites us to come into his presence to seek his face and to bring our needs before him. In John 4:24, Jesus says, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” If we are to worship in…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, This past Sunday we had the opportunity to gather together for our January congregational meeting. In our devotional, we spent some time reflecting on how to stay faithful to Our Community Core through pressing deeper into our union with Jesus Christ. As we abide in Jesus, we will bear fruit and our Lord will be glorified as we do so…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Last Sunday, we saw how the gospel turns the world upside down through the downward path of Jesus’ earthly ministry, his passion, and then the upward path of his resurrection. In the biblical estimation, the only way to go up is to go down. This Sunday, we see the message of the Gospel coming up against the greatest human philosophy of the…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, The experience of Paul and Silas in the city of Philippi was quite a rollercoaster ride. They see Lydia come to Christ­–the first convert in Europe, a slave girl is set free from an evil spirit by the power of Jesus, then the two missionaries are beaten and thrown into prison. This is followed by a divinely appointed earthquake, which…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Here is a quick and interesting fact for you: Within the last 25 years the number of products an average supermarket carries in-store has increased from 8,000 to 47,000. One thing this tells us is that in America, we like having options (at least when it comes to our grocery shopping). However, as we’ll see in Acts 16:25-40, when it comes to our…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, December has been a busy but wonderful time of focusing our attention on the coming of our Savior. I give thanks to the Lord for your generosity shown through the response to the Advent mercy project to raise funds for DuPagePads. Our church raised $4140.00 to donate toward the interim housing project. How awesome to see the fruit of the Spirit…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, Here we are in the last week of Advent! It’s been a joy to travel through Luke 1-2 together over these last weeks, reflecting on the birth of our Savior and preparing our hearts for the celebration of his birth. As you are in the “final throes” of Christmas preparations, I pray you feel the eager anticipation of Christ’s second coming…