At the ACC after-school tutoring program a few weeks ago Pastor David casually mentioned to me that he and Sobeyda were going to be hosting a refugee family from El Salvador. My heart jumped with excitement...what an opportunity for ACC to show the love of God! I also was encouraged by their willingness to share their living space with strangers, knowing they give so much already as a Pastor and Counselor. The next day Carolina and her almost 11 year old son Onandy arrived....
I recently heard (thank you, Lourine Clark!) about a spiritual discipline that Eugene Peterson practiced throughout his life. He prayerfully selected seven psalms from the Bible that he felt would "cover the waterfront" of his spiritual needs. He then made a commitment to let those psalms change his life. He would read them, meditate on them, commit them to memory, and pra...
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Jesus often taught people by telling parables brief stories or word pictures designed to communicate spiritual truth. On Sunday, October 17, we will begin a six-week sermon series titled "Stories Jesus Told" in which we will look at six parables from the book of Luke. Community Groups will also be meeting to dig deeper into these parables together. New Testament scholar,...
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A well-known party game, designed to encourage conversation among guests, is "Would You Rather." In this game, participants are asked to respond to hypothetical questions about their preferences, questions such as: 'Would you rather always be 10 minutes late or 20 minutes early?' 'Would you rather have all the traffic lights you approach be green or never have to stand i...
Keep Reading A well-known party game, designed to encourage conversation among guests, is "Would You Rather." In this game, participants are asked to respond to hypothetical questions about their preferences, questions such as: 'Would you rather always be 10 minutes late or 20 minutes early?' 'Would you rather have all the traffic lights you approach be green or never have to stand i...
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It is often said that, because of the way human cells regenerate themselves, every seven to ten years we are completely new people. As it turns out, this is not exactly true, but the thought is compelling, nevertheless. Who isn't attracted to the idea of being made new? The Christian season of Lent is traditionally a time for believers to seek renewal not renewal of our ...
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A 3-week sermon series at ACC, starting September 13, will focus on three aspects of the Christian life that we want to see happening more and more at our church. We want to be a church in which everyone is growing in their relationship with God, in which we are all equipped to lead lives that bring glory to Christ, and in which we relate to each other and to our neighbors...
Keep ReadingThe final petition of the Lord's Prayer is, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." The Heidelberg Catechism teaches that, in praying this part of the Lord's Prayer, we are saying, "By ourselves we are too weak to hold our own even for a moment. And our sworn enemies the devil,the world,and our own fleshnever stop attacking us. And so, Lord, uphold us an...
Keep ReadingIn our current sermon series, we are allowing different psalms from the Bible to show us how to give voice to the various petitions of the Lord's Prayer. The fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer is "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Psalm 32 helps us to pray this petition with depth and authenticity. In his book on the Lord's Prayer, Terry L. Johnson remind...
Keep ReadingJesus taught us, in the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer, to ask the Father for "our daily bread." "Daily bread," of course, is a metaphor for everything we need from the Lord. This includes requests for spiritual growth and piety, but we should never be embarrassed to ask God for physical blessings, as well. In Prayerbook of the Bible, a book on praying the psalms, D...
Keep ReadingIn our current sermon series, we are learning to pray the psalms through the lens of the Lord's Prayer. The first petition of the Lord's Prayer is "hallowed be Thy name." Psalm 147 is a great psalm for helping us to pray this petition to God. According to the Heidelberg Catechism, when we pray for the hallowing of God's name we are saying: "Help us to truly know you, to h...
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