I was already thrilled about the Secret Church event happening tomorrow. That excitement just got turbo-charged as i looked through the awesome notebook that each participant receives.

Tomorrow night 7pm in the YouthRoom. $7; no childcare. RSVP now, please!

Tonight in our 7pm Maundy Thursday, along with many other gospel texts, we are dwelling on the words Jesus Christ spoke from the cross.

They are often referred to as “The Seven Words”.

The sixth word is TETELESTAI–or “It is finished.”
Spurgeon: Once again—when He said, “It is finished,” Jesus had totally destroyed the power of Satan, of sin and of death. The Champion had entered the lists to do battle for our soul’s redemption against all our foes. He met Sin. Horrible, terrible, all-but omnipotent Sin nailed Him to the Cross. But in that deed, Christ nailed Sin also to the tree. There they both did hang together—Sin and Sin’s Destroyer. Sin destroyed Christ and by that destruction Christ destroyed Sin.

(All muggles can drop out now.)

This makes me think of the way Harry, our conquering hero, had to be destroyed by Voldemort in order to destroy Voldemort. Remember that final horcrux!? In the last battle Voldemort thought he was killing Harry but, ah glorious eucatastrophe!, the only thing he ultimately destroyed was his chance of survival. Boo yah, JKR! Well done.

Christ Community is equipped with a substantial kitchen, and we are blessed to have such a facility! The church kitchen was recently the recipient of two generous donations of needed items:

• In honor of their daughter, Garreth Smoak, and her birthday on Easter Sunday, Jolan and Diane Smoak provided supplies and equipment for the kitchen. Thank you! Garreth has been a member of CCC since 2007, and she leads our women’s Tuesday evening Bible study.
• After our most recent Seasoned Gators brunch, Jim and Louise Marshall made a generous donation of supplies and equipment, as well. Thank you!

We look forward to seeing our facility used more and more to serve our community and to give glory to our God.

Those of you who were in the services when we started at 9 and 10:30 will remember that I explained the call to worship.

Those of you who arrived late, we’re praying for you. And fighting our self-righteousness. Anyway, I just came across a helpful little note on The Call to Worship. I’ve put an excerpt below and the whole thing is worth reading.

Why the Call to Worship is so important.  First, we live in a society that teaches us to think highly of our own ability.  Americans are a fiercely independent, self-motivated people.  The Call to Worship puts us in our place.  We come to worship because God has a summons on our lives.  We come to worship because God initiates with us, not the other way around.  So the call to worship reminds us of God’s sovereign reign over us.

Second, the earliest word used to describe the Church in the Bible was ekklesia.  (It’s where we get our words “ecclesiastical” and “ecclesiology.”)  Its root is the Greek word kaleo, which means, “to call.”  The people of God, as the ekklesia, are “the called-out ones.”  When we hear the Call to Worship, we are being reminded of our identity as those called out and set apart by God for His holy purposes.  We are reminded that we are not our own.  We are reminded that we are “resident aliens” in this world.  We are reminded that we are treasured and loved by God.  So the call to worship reminds us of our identity in Christ.

Why We Need The Call to Worship

1.) This lecture by Richard Pratt, that I mentioned in Foundations tonight, is the mac daddy. Or so I think. And I haven’t seen it anywhere else online in years. Enjoy.

Infant Baptism by Richard Pratt

2.) Gospel Coalition document by Thabiti Anyabwile and Ligon Duncan.