Renaissance

The 2012 Walk For Life will be held on Saturday, June 2nd.

9:00-10:00 Registration at Carolina Mall Food Court
10:00-11:00 Walk will take place from the Carolina Mall all the way to Forest Hill UMC
11:00 Silent Auction begins
11:00 Music, games and entertainment begins
12:00 Free hotdog lunch served
12:30 Silent auction bidding ends
12:45 Top walkers will be announced
1:00 Event ends

Shuttles will be provided throughout the event to return participants to their cars at the mall.

FAMILY FUN

• Food and other refreshments
• Themed gift baskets silent auction
• Music
• Cabarrus County Sheriff Child Identification
• Inflatables for the kids
• Clowns, face painting, balloons
• Great prizes for 1st and 2nd place (walkers turning in the most money collected)

Anyone can walk; individuals or groups.  If someone can’t make it to the walk that day, they can still walk their neighborhood at their convenience and  pledge money or make a donation.  They can place the money in an envelope and mail it into the CPC. This is a great way to help an awesome ministry in our own backyard.

So, what’s your story?

When I was a kid whenever I heard an adult ask, “So, what’s your story?” I knew I was in trouble! The good news is even though I’m asking for your story you’re not in trouble.

At Renaissance we believe our stories are worth telling. God has his fingerprints all over your life. So why don’t you share it? Your challenge on Sunday was to put down on paper the story of what God has done and is doing in your life. Do you see evidence of God’s grace in your life? Write it down. Have you seen evidence of God’s sovereign hand in your life? Tell someone. Have there been times in life when you’ve clung to the faithful promises of God? Let someone know. This is your chance!

Over the next 4 weeks we’ll be collecting stories. My desire is to post them on our website so that your story might bring glory to God. Would you please consider emailing your story to james@renbible.org? You can write a short paragraph or a few pages. Just tell of a time when you have seen evidence of God’s grace, sovereignty, or faithfulness in your life.

I know our people will be encouraged and I trust God will be glorified.

James

We hope you’ll join us as we Celebrate Easter with two services.

Good Friday
Date: April 6th
Time: 7:00pm
Where: West Cabarras Y - 5325 Langford Ave. NW Concord, NC 28027

Easter Sunday
Date: April 8th
Time: 10:00 am
Where: West Cabarras Y - 5325 Langford Ave. NW Concord, NC 28027

• One billion: The number of estimated Valentine’s Day cards sent every year. This is second only to Christmas.
• 8 billion: The amount of Sweethearts Conversation Hears manufactured each year for Valentine’s Day. That’s about 100,000 pounds per day.
• 3.5 billion: The estimated amount consumers will spend on bling for their beloved.
• 1.7 billion: The amount spent by consumers on flowers for their love.
• 91: Percentage of men who give flowers to their significant other on Valentine’s Day to show their love.
• 64: Percentage of men who do not make plans in advance for Valentine’s Day.

The numbers are in. Apparently,  Valentine’s Day is big business. Soon men will frantically invade floral shops and grocery stores to scoop up roses that have been drastically marked up. Most men will not even think of doing this until they are on their way home from work next Tuesday. Some will do it out of love while others will do it out of necessity (16% of men buy flowers to “stay out of the doghouse”). We love giving gifts to the one we love, but the best gift we can give doesn’t wither in a weekend.

It’s time to shower the one you love with a memorable gift, so where do you go for advice? You could go to a Casanova, or you could go to the Creator. He does know a thing or two about love. Long before Tim Tebow wrote it under his eyes, John wrote it in his gospel. “For God so loved the world that he gave…” God loved. God gave. God was the first giver of gifts. Hallmark just stole the idea, abbreviated the message, and sold the cards.

God’s love wasn’t best seen in a greeting card, but in Christ. His love was sacrificial, but it wasn’t centered on us. God’s love for us was God centered. “He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ…to the praise of his glorious grace…” (Eph 1:5, 6) God loved us and gave his Son for us, but the primary reason he gave the gift of his Son was so that he would be seen as great. When we show love to another it is an attempt to demonstrate how valuable they are to us. “I love you so much I’m willing to give you this valuable gift!” When God shows love it is to demonstrate how valuable he is. This does not mean God does not love us. His love for us is seen all over the pages of Scripture. But we are not the center of God’s universe, God is.

Knowing that God loves us in such a way that God is praised should not diminish our joy, it should increase our joy. For us to give a gift so that we would be praised is pride. For God it is loving. It is loving because the only place we find true satisfaction and lasting joy in life is in him.

The gifts we give this week, regardless of their carats, will lose their sparkle. They always do. If you want to give the one you love a gift that will last forever don’t just go out of your way to tell them they are beautiful, but go out of your way to show them the beauty of Christ. Treasure the one you love by treasuring the One who loved them first. True love points be to a gift that satisfies-the all satisfying One.

I came across this comparison of religion and the gospel yesterday and I thought it was appropriate in light of our time in Matthew 21. It is from pastor and author, Tim Keller.

RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted

THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity

THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God

THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life

THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs

THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.

RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment

THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.

RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure

THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”—simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.

RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other

THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God

THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

It’s January 2nd. Have you failed to stay true to your New Year’s resolutions yet? Don’t worry, it’s coming. I don’t want to be a wet blanket, Debbie Downer, or Pessimistic Pete, but chances are you’re not going to run a marathon in 2012, read through the Bible twice…a month, save the whales, and become President. Is it possible? I suppose, but the safe bet is on failure.

Fret not, you’re in good company. Paul missed the mark on a few of his spiritual resolutions. In Romans 7 he wrote, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Can I get a witness? Ever been there before? Even our best intentions can end in bitter failure. Paul isn’t talking about his new exercise program, he’s discussing his spiritual life. He paints a bleak picture.

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:15-24 ESV)

Something tells me Tony Robbins is not asking Paul to teach him how to unleash the power within or how to create his own breakthrough. Paul’s message is sober-even a tad bit depressing. It makes me want to find a corner and grab a box of Hostess Ding Dongs. While his message may be sober, it’s not without hope.

“Who will deliver me from this body of death?” He writes, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ. Jesus came to do something we couldn’t. He was the faithful one.

Resolutions are good. It’s wise to plan. Life change is possible. You’re not a slave to old habits, despite the fact they die hard. But remember when you fail that Jesus came to save you from your sin and failure. He came because given all the time in the world we would not clean ourselves up enough to be good enough. He came so we don’t have to be. This is very good news. Thanks be to God through Christ!