Our Mission:
To glorify God in response to His grace by making disciples of Jesus Christ.
If January is the month to set new goals and resolutions for the New Year, February is the month to desert resolutions, like the abandoned cars on D.C. side streets packed tightly under the snow tossed from city plows.
Pastor John Newton (1725–1807) was familiar with this challenge of attaining lofty goals, a topic he discussed in a letter written in February 1772 to one of his friends.
Newton writes, “The Lord has given his people a desire and will aiming at great things; without this they would be unworthy of the name of Christians.”
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As we've been thinking recently about Jesus as true Man and true God, as well as all his titles, here's a little something that touches on all those themes! :)
From the New Testament through the church Fathers (including Tertullian, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, Hilary) to interpreters of recent centuries (Luther, Spurgeon, Bonhoeffer), Christians have seen Jesus as one of the chief subjects of the Psalms. Jesus has also been seen as the one who sings the Psalms: he experienced the full range of human emotions and the full, intimate, honest relationship with God depicted in the Psalms.
Read on...
It's that season once again. It's the fodder for blogs, newspaper articles, TV magazine shows and way too many Twitter posts. It is the time for the annual ritual of dramatic New Year's resolutions fueled by the hope of immediate and significant personal life change.
But the reality is that few smokers actually quit because of a single moment of resolve, few obese people have become slim and healthy because of one dramatic moment of commitment, few people who were deeply in debt have changed their financial lifestyle because they resolved to do so as the old year gave way to the new, and few marriages have been changed by the means of one dramatic resolution.
Is change important? Yes, it is for all of us in some way. Is commitment essential? Of course! There is a way in which all of our lives are shaped by the commitments we make. But biblical Christianity—which has the gospel of Jesus Christ at its heart—simply doesn't rest its hope in big, dramatic moments of change.
Read the entire thing.
Please do join us for Christmas at SMACC-ACA:
Christmas Eve - the ACA Christmas celebration 7pm at ACA. You can get the details from our
ACA blogsite.
Christmas Day - 10:30am SMACC Family Christmas Celebration - family friendly with something for the kids as well as adults. It's in the Multi-Purpose Hall beside the main building at St. Mary's Cathedral.
Boxing Day - SMACC1 and 2 congregations will meet together at 5pm at the Multi-Purpose Hall (ACA will meet as usual in the Ampang centre).
Another great article from the Gospel Coalition website. We must celebrate the Gospel, not our church expressions. Click
here for the article.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor who opposed Adolf Hitler and was later martyred. Here he is, writing from prison in 1943 to his fiancee, on how the Christmas message sustained him:
Be brave, my dearest Maria, even if this letter is your only token of my love this Christmas-tide. We shall both experience a few dark hours - why should we disguise that from each other? We shall ponder the incomprehensibility of our lot and be assailed by the question of why, over and above the darkness already enshrouding humanity. We are being subjected to the bitter anguish of a separation whose purpose we fail to understand. And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger.
Come join us for a fun evening of food, fellowship and the word of God! Feast on delicious yummy food while you hear about the true meaning of Christmas. There will also be games and ice breakers, a Q&A session plus you get to listen to some wonderful Christmas carols! No worries on the parking as it is free and easily available!
We only have 70 seats so hurry and register as it is on a 1st come, 1st served basis! Only RM20 for SMACCers and RM10 per guest and we would appreciate if payment can be made during SMACC services. If you are a non-SMACCer but want to come and bring friends, please drop us an email at smacc.events@gmail.com or call Carol at 017-3337797. Hope to see you there!
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