Merry Christmas Greetings!

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, ‘God with us.’” Matthew 1:22-23

Don’t you just love the warm sun pouring through the windows in your home? Unfortunately it is showing up my housework in my office as I can see a very complicated spider web hanging from a bookshelf. And yet maybe that’s not so bad as it reminds me about the God we serve. His nature is full of order, perseverance and lots of repetition. Spiders know all about that. Do you recognize the verse above from last week’s blog? Isaiah’s words from the Old Testament are repeated in Matthew’s recording in the New Testament. When you finally do get down to studying the Bible you really do see how much God has revealed about Himself in its pages along with our own similar characteristics.

Please continue to pray for Debbie Macdonald’s mother who had knee surgery recently plus other complications. Also remember Steve Macdonald with his ongoing health issues and added pressures at work particularly this week when he has to lay off workers just before Christmas.

Home Group happens this Wednesday, instead of Thursday, at the Burtons’ house at 7:00 p.m. when we will be reviewing the videos on Islam we have been watching for the past several months.

Enjoy!

Wendy
wendy.carter@kainos.org
This blog is a summary of our 9:00 Sunday morning services held at 7777 Churchville Rd., Brampton, ON L6Y 0H3, 905-230-8116. It can always be found at www.blog.heartlandfellowship.ca.

More News from Myanmar by Gary Carter: So we are in the brick-making business in Myanmar. 500 bricks were made the first day and 1000 the next. It’s working! The only problem is that they are one truck short for a brick load! If one brick sells for 20 cents then they will make $200 for 1000 bricks. The goal is to make 2400 in a day. Richard has always just called a prayer meeting when in need. Now he and his staff and orphans can pray while they work. He has 5 Bible School students teaching the older children with younger ones looking on. Their campus is buzzing with activity and excitement. Over time their muscles will ache and it will become tiresome to keep up the challenging pace; however now they have the means to buy their own food. Outside help is very important for them to move ahead as there are no banks in this country and private lenders gouge them. Spread the word around as there may be others whom you know that would like to share in this cause. What will this very simple business look like in a year? God only knows.

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus: Sara Burton led us in the singing of this Christmas carol written by Charles Wesley. It only has two verses but this carol says it all.
1. Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
2. Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

David Meece – We are the Reason by Chris Burton: Chris is taking a break from his conversations with Jesus until after the Christmas season. He has decided to take a look at some of the well-known hymn writers from the 70s & 80s.
David Meece, born in 1952, grew up in the small town of Humble, Texas. As a child he began touring as a concert pianist at the age of ten. By fourteen, he performed the Mozart Piano Concerto in F Major with the Houston Chamber Orchestra. He won a nationwide talent show at the age of fifteen and toured England, Germany, France, Switzerland and Holland. When he was sixteen, he was the featured soloist with the Houston Symphony. David received a full scholarship to study at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland. It was there that he fully surrendered his life to Christ.
David found his goals changing from his intended career as a classical pianist as he began to write songs about his relationship with the Lord and sing them. Immediately upon graduating from the Peabody Conservatory, he became a worship/youth pastor. In 1976, he married his college sweetheart, Debbie Pearce. That same year, he was discovered by the executives of Word Records and his first album, self-titled, “David” was released on the Myrrh label. He went on to record a dozen more of his own collections of original songs and contributed to many other projects. Over 30 of his compositions have reached the top of the charts, some titles sharing the #1 place simultaneously in more than one genre. Favourites such as his signature song, “We Are the Reason” have been recorded by well over 200 other artists and sung in several languages. His songs caught on internationally and so did his travels as he became a favourite in Australia, Canada, throughout Asia, Europe and South Africa.
Although life was full of rewards growing it up, it also had it’s challenges. David grew up in a house dominated by an abusive, alcoholic father. In 1986, at the height of his career, his father passed away, bringing deep unresolved hurts to the surface. He was in the middle of a 70 City Tour entitled, “Seventy Times Seven,” when he received a phone call from his brother telling him of his father’s death. After the funeral, he resumed his tour. While standing up in front of thousands each night, singing about forgiveness, he found himself in desperate need of forgiving his own dad. David was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and received the 2009 Visionary Award for the Inspirational Male Soloist category.
We Are the Reason
1. As little children we would dream of Christmas morn
And all the gifts and toys we knew we’d find
But we never realized a baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives.
Chorus: And we were (are) the reason that He gave His life.
We were (are) the reason that He suffered and died
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live.
2. As the years went by we learned more about gifts
And giving of ourselves and what that means
On a dark and cloudy day a man hung crying
in the rain
Because of love, because of love.
3. I finally found the reason for living
It’s in giving every part of my heart to Him
In all that I do every word that I say
I’ll be giving my all just for Him
For Him.

Merry Christmas by Gary Carter: Last Sunday Gary began looking at the letters in “ichthus”, the Christian fish symbol. The first letter, iota, stands for Jesus. The second letter X (ch) stands for Christ which means the Messiah in Hebrew – the Anointed One or King. Christ is a title describing a role not a name and refers to a perfect leader or president that the Jews were looking for to come and fix everything. Societies down through the ages have done the same thing. But problems are not political; people need a Messiah. At the time of Christ’s birth an intersection of multi-cultural ethnic worlds was happening. Of all the names used in the New Testament Jesus is dominant (2190 times in the Bible) - Christ (703 times); Messiah (546 times); Jesus Christ (215 times); Lord Jesus Christ (127 times); Christ Jesus (121 times); and Christ’s (104 times).
A king refers to a position that is permanent and long-lasting. It is clearly taught in Scripture that Jesus is a King; although only mentioned a couple of times (His kingdom is mentioned 150 times). In John 18:28-39 Jesus finally agrees with Pilate that He is a King. In Luke 1:30-33 the angel told Mary that “…the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
So how is He King Jesus right now? First of all, He holds the master plan (I Corinthians 15:24-28). Never forget that He lives beyond time. Secondly, He is the head of the church (Ephesians 1:19-23), a most powerful entity on earth, even though that might not seem to be the case in our world. William baptized four new believers in the bathtub of his apartment last week. Thirdly, King Jesus is the Master of those who accept His rule (John 1:9-13) and last of all, He will be the Master of all who don’t accept His rule (Philippians 1:9-11).

A “C” of Punny Titles by Steve Macdonald:
All-You-Can-Eat Buffets by Ima Piggee
Cheap Transmissions by Stan Dard
Classic Groceries  by Chopin Liszt
Credit Cards  by Bill Melater
Carnival Rides  by Ivana Herl
Chest Pain by I. Coffalot
Crackdown by Lauren Order
Car Capital Of The World by Mitch Egan
Cooking Spaghetti by Al Dente