Life change is difficult, especially when you’re trying to make changes on your own. I’m sure most of us understand that we need to trust God when it comes to making changes in our lives, but it seems that many of us don’t understand that we really need to get other people involved in our lives to help us make changes.

James 5:16 tells us, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Sure, James mentions confessing sins to each other so we can pray for each other, but really, who among us is willing to share our sins when we hesitate to share the rest of our lives with others?

While only God can truly affect change in our lives, it’s pretty clear that we are responsible to help each other through those changes. Even when God makes changes in our lives, we need not only to confess our sins to each other but to encourage each other when we have triumphed over our struggles, when we have resisted temptation.

While we head into the last few weeks of developing habits to change the way we live–to God’s glory, right?–let us help each other by holding each other accountable. Let’s get to know our brothers and sisters in Christ in such a way that we can work through the struggles of a new diet, so that we can become more regular in our exercise routines, so that we can become more faithful in our Bible study habits.

Join us on Saturday, February 11th at 6:30 pm at South Redford Christian Church to support the camp all our children love!
Tickets prices are: $5 for an individual or $15 for a family, which includes dinner includes pasta, salad, rolls, and dessert.

Please sign up at the Welcome Center or contact Adam Schultz for a pre-sale ticket.

FAMILY MINISTRY

Parenting Beyond Your Capacity Class
This class, led by Mike Bey, is currently meeting on Sunday mornings at 11:00 am in the fellowship hall. We are reading through and discussing Parenting Beyond Your Capacity. Parents of all ages are encouraged to attend because we believe that shared stories and experiences are one of the best ways to learn.

Family Fun Night – Saturday, March 3 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
This is a perfect night for the whole family to have fun and grow together! Join us for a free dinner, worship, games, drama, and family activities. Bring as many friends as you can and sign up at the Children’s Ministry board.

YOUTH MINISTRY
We had an incredible night at MERGE on Sunday, January 22. Four church youth groups came together for a night of worship, teaching, games, and community. Solomon Zheng, of the Chinese Gospel Church, led us into worship of Jesus. Katie Riddle, of South Redford Christian Church, shared a few stories from her life of how God has led her and given her purpose. Landen Koch, of Kenwood Christian Church, helped out behind the scenes and with the activity. Our adult leaders were vital in connecting with students and serving in order for the night to happen. The purpose of MERGE is to break down the barriers that keep churches divided. We love coming together with our neighboring churches for the worship of Jesus and the expansion of the Kingdom of God. Thank you for allowing your students to be involved with this movement!

Bowling (High School)
When: Friday, February 3
What time: Be at Memorial at 5:30pm. We will return by
Cost: $12 per person. This includes 2 hours of bowling, shoes, pizza and pop.
Please sign up at the High School board and bring your friends!

IMPACT
Our next trip to serve and eat with the homeless men and women will be Saturday, February 11th. Be at Memorial by 12noon to prepare food and to pray together. This is a great afternoon to spend as a family serving together! Please contact Adam if you are planning to come with us!

Statewide (High School) – March 9-11
Packets are available at the High School board. The remaining $55 is due (with the packet) to Adam no later than February 26.

Jr. High Believe
Mark your calendars for Friday, April 27 – Sunday, April 29!
More information is coming soon!

Summer in the Son (High School) – June 24-29
This will be the best week of your life!

They were unusual, at least in my mind, because they had a sense of community that is uncommon today. Christians are known widely for their generosity and love, but this kind of community is rare, even among Christians. For the most part, we do not meet together daily, sharing meals regularly, sharing our possessions as if they were not our own. Our culture would find this strange behavior, and we are likely to agree. As much as we might love our brothers and sisters in Christ, most of us like to protect “our space.”

Perhaps it’s our understanding of what it means to love one another, as Jesus commanded in John 13:34: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” This has to be important to Jesus; he repeats the command in John 15:12, 17. How did Jesus love us? Sacrificially. He loved us to the point of dying for us.

While I’m not expecting any of us to encounter circumstances where we might have the choice of dying for our brothers and sisters in Christ, I know that there are other circumstances in life when we might have the opportunity to love sacrificially. Paul explains it like this in Romans 12:10: “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Generosity is often an expression of our love out of the excess of what we have; sacrificial love gives regardless of what we have, as if to our own family, as if the other person is more important than ourselves.

In this new year, let us work on loving each other in this way. Let us make Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 3:12 our prayer for the year: “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”

John 3:16 makes it clear that Jesus was a gift of love, but God’s gift was not meant solely to be received; it was meant to be shared. Jesus told his disciples in John 13:34: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Just as Jesus was a gift of God’s love for the world, so we must be gifts of God’s love to the world.

That must begin within the church, among our brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s easy to love God, the one who gives us extravagant gifts, but that should lead us to love others: “Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (1 John 4:21). Every Christian should have a deep sense of love and kinship with other Christians, knowing that God has done for others what he has done for each of us. It is because of God’s gift to every Christian that we should, as Paul writes in Philippians 2:3, “value others above yourselves.”

We should also be God’s gift of love to the world outside the church. Although we have claimed God’s gift through faith, God gave his gift to the world: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9). If we have accepted God’s gift, then we are also expected to share that gift, and John tells us that in order for us to do that we must be more like Jesus: “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus” (1 John 4:17).

As God’s children who have received the gift of salvation and eternal life through Jesus, we should celebrate the birth of Jesus. Let us also remember Jesus’ words that Paul tells us in Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Celebrate God’s gift by sharing it with others.

As he begins to explain the arrival of Jesus, the apostle John tells us in John 1:17 that “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” If we are celebrating the birth of the one who brought grace and truth, surely we should not be having knock-down, drag-out fights over cheap TVs. While I didn’t see anyone I know on the news throwing punches in the aisles of the local big-box stores, I know that many of us struggle with the idea of “peace on earth” during this holiday season. So, how can we be more like Jesus while we’re shopping for gifts, preparing for guests, and traveling to see friends and relatives? We need to focus on the grace and truth that Jesus brought.

Generally, we understand the truth that all of us are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness and that the only way we can receive that forgiveness is by God’s grace, as a gift from God; this is why we exchange gifts as we celebrate Jesus’ birth. Perhaps we have forgotten some of the nuances of the word grace, the ideas of joy, beauty, pleasure, charm, and loveliness. The Greek word translated as grace in the New Testament carries these images with it; not only is God’s grace a gift, it is a gift that brings joy.

Do we, as God’s children who have received that gift, reflect the joy that comes with God’s grace? Are you generous in your giving? Are you pleasant as you interact with store clerks? Are you charming despite your disappointment when what you want isn’t in stock or while you are waiting in seemingly endless lines? Does our celebration of Christmas show others the grace and truth that Jesus brought? Our culture has taken God’s perfect gift and buried the joy that comes with it under flashing lights and ribbons and door-buster sales. We don’t have to let it stay that way. Let’s reclaim the joy of God’s grace and celebrate the birth of Jesus so that others may experience that joy as well.

This attitude of thankfulness is also found in the Jewish celebration of Passover, which commemorates God’s deliverance of his people from slavery in Egypt. It is a celebration that helps Jews remember what God has done for his people, surely a time to be thankful. As a Jew, Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples, reminding them of God’s deliverance in the past.

It was in the context of this celebration and remembrance that Jesus instituted the Last Supper. Matthew 26:26-28 says that “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’”

While the disciples remembered that God had freed his people from physical slavery, Jesus gave thanks. But I think that there’s an element of Jesus’ thankfulness that looks to the future. Jesus knew that he was about to be sacrificed in order to free his people spiritually, and despite the pain and suffering he would soon experience, he gave thanks.

If we continue to pray that God would make us more like Jesus, we should also give thanks the way Jesus did. We have the responsibility to remember what God has done for us, freeing us from our sins through the sacrifice of Jesus, and for that we must give thanks. We also have the privilege of giving thanks for what God will do for us in the future.

As we gather with our families and friends to give thanks for what God has given us, let us not forget to give thanks for what God has done for us through Jesus. Let us give thanks for what God continues to do through us, bringing others into God’s kingdom. Let us give thanks for what God will do in the future, gathering us to heaven to be with him forever.

It’s just that I’d like to add to the ranks of our teachers. While I know that not all of us are gifted to be teachers (Romans 12:7) and that not all of us are called to be teachers (1 Corinthians 12:28, 29), I believe that all of us are called to teach in one way or another. If we are to be more like Jesus, then we need to develop a habit of teaching others. In Mark 10:1, it says about Jesus that “crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.” In addition to becoming more like Jesus, we must be obedient to Jesus, who said in Matthew 28:20 that making disciples involves “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

While I would love to have more people called to be teachers in our Bible study programs Sunday morning and throughout the week, I know that not all of us are called or gifted in that way. However, we can all teach others. Parents must teach their children (Deuteronomy 6). Older men and women must teach younger generations (Titus 2:2, 3). Leaders must teach within the body of believers (1 Timothy 3:2; 2 Timothy 2:2, 24). In Colossians 3:16 Paul tells us: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Regardless of your role, you have an opportunity and a responsibility to teach. Let’s do it together.

In Ephesians 5:1, 2 Paul wrote, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Again, Paul reminds us that we are God’s children, and he encourages us to “live a life of love,” giving us Jesus as the example of how to do that.

Jesus’ example of love is a matter of self-sacrifice. Paul tells us that Jesus loved us, and because of that, he offered himself as a sacrifice to God. Obviously, Jesus’ love for us led him to the cross, where he became the ultimate sacrifice. But how did he live a life of sacrificial love?

Jesus interacted with the unlovable—the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the lepers—and that didn’t help his reputation with the religious leaders of his day. Jesus answered questions from people who were trying to undermine his ministry, which often led to further opposition. Jesus spoke the truth, even when people didn’t want to hear it. Everything Jesus said and did was for the benefit of other people, even though it eventually led him to his death.

As we try to be more like Jesus, let us live lives of sacrificial love. Our service to God doesn’t always have to be a matter of preaching or teaching the Bible; in fact, our opportunities outside of the church are likely going to be greater than inside the church. If we really want to reach the world and share the Good News about salvation through Jesus, we’re going to have to “advertise” Jesus’ love by living it out ourselves.

That troubles me. I certainly do not desire to face the choice of rejecting my faith in Christ or dying or watching my family be killed, which does happen throughout the world. What I do desire is to be more like Jesus, and it troubles me because I know that Jesus was persecuted, even to the point of death. In John 15:20 Jesus said, “‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” Paul made it clear that persecution is an identifying mark of being a Christian; in Romans 8:17 Paul wrote, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

It troubles me more knowing that in 2 Timothy 3:12 Paul wrote, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Does this mean that the reason we are not persecuted is because we are not living godly lives? I pray that it means our country’s Christian heritage is strong enough that we continue to enjoy living among Christians, if not merely among people who continue to hold fast to Judeo-Christian principles. However, that will not continue for much longer if Christians do not live the godly life in Christ Jesus to which Paul refers. As we continue to grow together in our faith and knowledge of Jesus, let us help each other live godly lives in Christ Jesus so that we will know for sure that we are persecuted for our faith.

Regardless of the reasons why we don’t always seem to be happy, joyful people, the simple fact is that we have been given the power to be joyful despite the attacks of the world. We know that Jesus suffered, on our behalf, more than any of us will ever suffer, and yet Jesus still had joy in his life. If we want to be more like Jesus, we need to imitate Jesus’ joy.

We find a great expression of Jesus’ joy in Luke 10. Jesus had sent 72 followers ahead of himself to heal, and to preach the Good News of God’s Kingdom. He had warned that they would face opposition, but when the disciples returned, they were excited about the miracles they performed. Jesus had to warn them, in verse 20, not to be distracted by the miracles but to rejoice in their salvation. Still, it gave Jesus joy to see them perform their mission and revel in God’s power, and so he praised God. Luke 10:21 says, “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.’”

What brought Jesus joy? His followers accepted his message and took up his mission despite persecution. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus found joy in that mission. Paul commended the early church when they found joy in taking up that mission. Let us also be imitators of Jesus, his disciples, and the early church and take up his mission, despite persecution, and live joyful lives rejoicing in our own salvation and sharing the Good News of God’s Kingdom.