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Hey friends…
I hope you had a fantastic Christmas week! We’ll keep our Friday letter “holiday short” today… but you may want to mark your calendars with some important events coming up at Mt. Hope! We will save Deeper Thoughts for next week… Save these dates and plan to join us: · NEXT Sunday, January 5, we kick off our new winter teaching series, “Powered by Jesus: Living the Abundant Spirit-filled Life.” We’ll be working chapter-by-chapter through the Gospel of Mark on Sundays, in our small groups, our Daily Six videos, and daily readings. o AND… we need you to make one commitment: Pick a consistent time for “12 minutes to abundance”—twelve minutes each day attached to a daily rhythm you already do (i.e. brushing your teeth, eating, commuting, break time at work, etc.) where you can commit to the Word and prayer in the Gospel of Mark with us. We’ll guide you through exactly what to do. Have your time slot figured out by next Sunday… we’ll kick it off with resources and ideas on Monday, January 6th! · Save Sunday after church on January 12 to see the first draft of our building expansion plans. We’ll show you the architect’s ideas, get your feedback, and talk about next steps. 11:40-ish until whenever (not super long). · Mark some time to come pray with us at our next prayer vigil, Saturday January 18 with a worship night that evening. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could get 100 Mt. Hope folks to stop by the church and pray with us for half an hour or so throughout the day? Please carve out the time! We need to be the Body of Christ together to seek Him for our future! · Teens – no Youth Group this Sunday! But come out Monday, December 30 for fun, games, and food—5:30 – 8:30 p.m. Contact Jess Sauder for details: [email protected]. · A new small group kicks off on January 10 called “You and Me Together,” a study in Christ-centered marriage led by David and Lynn Eisele. This is for marrieds and singles, young and old! Use your marriage and life to show others what love is, to build each other up, support one another in your callings, and keep one another spiritually on-track. Click here to let us know you’re interested! · If you’d like to be part of our “History Team” researching the history of our church, discovering details about our graveyard that may be currently lost to us, and preparing for our 190th anniversary this summer, join us on Saturday, January 25 for a half-day work session. More details to come! OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers…oh, and everybody! BUT…hope to see you Sunday, 10:00 a.m.!! Much love to you all… Chris Eads Mt. Hope Pastor Friend
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Hey friends…
Many of you find my suggestion appalling. Skip our favorite holiday?!?! Unconscionable. But I bet there are a few of you who find this idea rather appealing. Skip all the hype and the rat race of an overwhelming holiday schedule?? Fantastic. But before you cancel me for such a ludicrous suggestion, can I plant the idea that a mountain of people are already skipping Christmas without even realizing it? Might you be one of them? I’ll tell you more in Deeper Thoughts below… But first… just a few important items: · LAST CHANCE to take a quick survey for us if you’ve not done so already! We are looking to understand what you most want us to focus on to help you grow in Jesus. The survey is only 6 quick questions… click here. Many thanks in advance! · Candlelight Christmas Eve!! Two services: 5:00 and 6:30 p.m. Invite your family and friends! o If you would like to participate in our Christmas Eve choir, click here to connect with Ryan Sauder! o Childcare will be available at 5:00 p.m. or only by special reservation at 6:30. Please click here to let us know you need childcare! · Teens – no Youth Group this Sunday! Contact Jess Sauder for updates throughout the holidays: [email protected]. · New small groups are starting this January! Among them, David and Lynn Eisele are kicking off a new small group called “You and Me Together,” a study in Christ-centered marriage. This is for marrieds and singles, young and old! Use your marriage and life to show others what love is, to build each other up, support one another in your callings, and keep one another spiritually on-track. Click here to let us know you’re interested! OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers and those who have decided I’m an unforgivable grinch. BUT… Some Deeper Thoughts… Thank God for Amazon. Click, click, and the package is shipped. Order your Christmas gift on Monday; you’ll have it under the tree by Tuesday. (And no, please don’t ask me if I’ve recently been rescued by this brilliant invention!) I imagine you’ve either heard or expressed this sentiment before: “All the commercialization of Christmas misses the entire point of Christmas.” You feel it don’t you? Holiday parties tying up every night in December; uncooperative decorations revealing your evil inner-Clark Griswald; crazy schedules to get to and from the in-laws; shopping for presents no one really wants… how is any of this related to Jesus Christ being born in a Middle Eastern stable some 2,030 years ago? While certainly a bit cliché, in this sense many of us skip out on the real meaning of Christmas by being so distracted by all the commercial and social expectations of the holiday. But this isn’t what I’m talking about when I tell you more people are skipping Christmas than realize it. Skipping Christmas started in 6 B.C. It’s been going on in droves ever since. Most scholars agree that Jesus was not born on December 25, 0 B.C. / A.D., based on a whole host of historic and astronomical details we don’t have time for here. The best guess of when Jesus was actually born lands somewhere around March of the year 6.B.C. (ping me by email if you’d like the details… sorry if I just wrecked your holiday!). Nearly everyone missed the first Christmas out of simple ignorance that a baby of divine conception was just born to an out-of-town couple holding up in a borrowed stable while all the local hotels were sold out. His mom’s unusual labor and delivery room wasn’t the big story—a poorly organized census demanded by an inefficient government bureaucracy displaced a whole host of travelers that weekend. That someone would end up giving birth while in town and not have anywhere to go was inevitable. The big story was who this baby was. Almost no one could comprehend it. Not even you and me. It would be several decades later when an uneducated fisherman finally connected all the dots. When John Bar Zebedee got to know that stable-born baby all grown up, he saw the light. Literally. Here’s how John described it: “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it… The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:4-11). Did you catch the tragedy of John’s words? The world was languishing in darkness. Our world is languishing in darkness today. And we skip Christmas entirely unawares. We don’t even recognize it. Sure, we Christians generally know the basics of the story. Jesus came to die for our sins. He traded his holiness for our sinfulness. Because of this, we can love God and live eternally when we believe him for our salvation. End of story, right? Or is it? What about our immediate life today? Don’t get me wrong: Eternal life matters, especially when you die. But between now and then--smack dab in the middle of your precious life—are you skipping out on what this stable-born baby and his ultimate crucifixion can change about you? We certainly aren’t skipping the celebration of Christmas. We’ve got that one down pat. What we are skipping is the light. We don’t even see it. Just like John said: “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” Darkness surrounds us all. Attitudes. Anger. Resentment. Unforgiveness. Lust. Greed. Gossip. Jealousy. Materialism. Self-hatred. Dishonesty. Medicating addictions. Doubt. Fear. Despair. (I could go on… you get the point). This darkness is inside us all. Jesus came to eradicate that darkness by being the purest, brightest, boldest light ever known to man. (Clark Griswald, eat your heart out!) He came to show us the way. To change our broken hearts. To reveal the path of righteousness. To illuminate a better life. But we miss it. We skip it. How? By not investing every ounce of our energy to know this Jesus in every possible way. By not creating room in our hectic holiday schedules to fall on our knees before God and seek Him for revolutionary solutions to that darkness. By not devoting ourselves to the scriptures. By not pouring ourselves out before Him and asking Him to pour out His Holy Spirit upon us. Friends, please don’t hear this as shame. We are all doing this. Me included. To borrow the words of the famed Lon Solomon: “Not a sermon. Just a thought.” But maybe this Christmas we should sit for a minute (or two, or ten, or twenty…) and contemplate the light. He came to us. Let’s allow Him to shine into our darkness and lead us somewhere entirely new. Much love to you all… and Merry Christmas… or shall we say, Merry “Light-mas?” Chris Eads Mt. Hope Pastor Friend Hey there, Beloved Mt. Hope’rs…
Tomorrow: Saturday, December 14 is our 12-hour prayer vigil from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Will you join us to seek God for the future of our church? Click here to let us know when you will be praying with us! Our Elders will take turns being at the church from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. We are calling on God for His leadership, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and His miraculous provision for what’s next for Mt. Hope. Would you sign up to stop by and pray with us for 30 minutes? Or you can pray from home, too. How and What to Pray: Tomorrow is just one in a series of Mt. Hope prayer vigils asking God to move mightily and powerfully in our church. Today, we are asking God for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a provision for the future of our church. To receive this from the Lord, let’s follow the biblical pattern of how outpourings of the Holy Spirit were sought. As you engage this prayer vigil, consider using these steps to guide your thinking, praying, listening, and waiting upon God. First: Understand and stand upon the biblical promise: Read Joel 2:28-32 / Acts 2:16-21 / Acts 2:39 Pray a word of faith that you are trusting God for His provision—that he does intend to pour out His Spirit on all people, which includes you! “God, I receive the word of your promise. You have included me in this promise to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I choose to believe you!” Second: Wait upon the Lord for the gift of the Holy Spirit: Read Acts 1:4-8 / Psalm 27:14 / Isaiah 40:31 / Jeremiah 29:13 Pray a word of surrender to God’s timing. Tell Him you will wait upon him with expectancy. Put these bible verses in your own words to declare back to God His promise and your commitment to wait upon Him. “God, I wait upon you for everything you want to do in me. Reveal to my spirit what you are promising to me. Is there anything you want to show me? I trust you, even if it takes a long time to see you.” AND THEN…. Wait silently before the Lord. Walk or pace or sit quietly for 4 or 5 minutes (or more!) and see if you sense Him revealing anything in your spirit (see and contemplate Lamentations 3:25-26). Third: Repent of unbelief or anything between you and God: Read Acts 2:37-40 / Psalm 139:23-24 / 2 Chronicles 7:14 / Psalm 51:1-7 Pray a prayer of repentance—even if you do not have a specific thing to give up to God. Give Him access to everything within you and ask Him to reveal to you what you need to surrender to Him. Especially include surrendering any unbelief or shallow trust in His Word, or any sin that you struggle with. “God, I give you my whole heart and everything about me. I give you my trust that Your Word is true. I surrender my sin to you. Whatever you will reveal to me, I will hand over to you. Cleanse me and make me whole!” Fourth: Pray together with others: Read Acts 2:1 / Acts 4:24-31 / Acts 8:14 / Acts 9:17 / Acts 19:6 Pray with other believers for God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Do not be shy on this. It is the biblical pattern that this request is not just done in secret and in silence between you and God. It is to be prayed together. In Acts, the apostles were sent to pray over them for this specific gift, so let’s do this together! (If you’re at the church, ask the Elders or other leaders to pray this over you!) “God, fill us all with your Holy Spirit. I ask you to fulfill your promise to my friend here now ________________ and fill them with your Spirit! Connecting this to our Mt. Hope Future: We need the Lord to lead us as our future unfolds, which includes the vision to expand the scope and capacity of our campus. But more than a building, we need God to pour Himself out for us. Here is a snapshot of how this is interconnected: Thank you for joining us in prayer, however you do… whether in-person at the church, at home alone, or wherever your travels take you. I know God is going to move mightily! I look forward to hearing what He has done… we’ll share some stories on Sunday! See you in prayer!! Chris Eads Mt. Hope Pastor Friend Hey there, Beloved…
Sometimes I write about things that don’t interest you. When I do, I trust you just skim on past and delete the email. What’s worse, though, is when I take an entire Sunday (or two) to teach about things that bore you. Someone once said, “it is a sin to bore people with the Gospel.” So, let’s do a check-in and see if I’ve been on a tangent lately that feels irrelevant to you. I bet it does… oh, unless the Holy Spirit has done something miraculous in you. I’ll tell you more in Deeper Thoughts below… But first… a few quick items: · THIS Sunday evening, December 8, 5:00 p.m. Our annual Christmas Pageant and All-Church Christmas Party!! Our kids and middle schoolers tell the story of Christmas in music and drama. Then, we gather for a festive potluck dinner and fellowship. The pageant program begins at 5:00, dinner around 5:45. Click here to sign up for what you can bring—grab a disposable pan on Sunday; plan to bring your food early! · Will you take a quick survey for us? We are particularly interested in learning what you most want us to focus on providing for you from Mt. Hope. The survey is only 6 quick questions… click here. Thanks in advance! · Our 12-hour prayer vigil is NEXT Saturday, December 14! Will you join us to seek God for the future of our church? We are calling on God for His leadership, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and His miraculous provision for what’s next for us. NEXT Saturday, our Elders will take turns being at the church all day from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Would you sign up to stop by and pray with us for 30 minutes? Or you can pray from home, too. Click here to RSVP and to receive some guided prayer points! · Ladies: Join us for a Christmas Cookie Exchange December 14 from 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the church. Come dressed in your Christmas attire and enjoy some fun, fellowship, and delicious cookies! Click here to RSVP… and plan on stopping in upstairs before or after to join the prayer vigil for a bit! · Christmas Eve!! Two services: 5:00 and 6:30 p.m. Invite your family and friends! If you would like to participate in our Christmas Eve choir, click here to connect with Ryan Sauder! · Just two more weeks of “The Daily Six”, our 6-minute video released every Monday through Thursday! Click here to receive daily reminder emails—or just find the videos on our YouTube channel each morning. OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers and those who are always bored with whatever I’m saying. BUT… Some Deeper Thoughts… Perhaps you’ve picked up on my prodding on a few recent Sundays. Sure, a tiny part of it might be my pesky insecurity wanting to be sure you still like me and that I am relevant. But the truth is, despite my all-too-normal self-doubt, I know I am relevant. The Word of God is always relevant, and the Word of God is all I care about presenting to you. The real motive behind my prodding and poking is that I also know human nature leads every one of us to shy away from this particular corner of the Word of God. I shy away too. There is a very clear reason for it. And that reason is biblical. In fact, without the Holy Spirit pouring out a profoundly unique experience into you and me, this topic needs to be irrelevant, because without a special movement of the Holy Spirit, you should not be interested in it. You’ll do more harm than good to geek out on the topic without the Holy Spirit. “What are we talking about, Chris? You’re being dodgy.” Thanks for asking. The topic is mission. Your mission. Your calling. Your responsibility to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). Your assignment to share the good news about Jesus with your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. “Yep… I’m out. Not interested. Scared. Don’t want to do that. Irrelevant. Weird. Not cool. Deleting email now.” Good. Unless… Unless you have been specifically baptized with the Holy Spirit, mission and calling and witness is uncomfortable and irrelevant, and it needs to be. You’ll do a whole host of damage to your relationships and the testimony of the Gospel if you try to share Jesus without the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus told his disciples to wait. Hold up. Pull back. Don’t move. Jesus was precise and commanding: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait…” The disciples were on an out-of-town road trip to celebrate Pentecost. They were undoubtedly in a world of confusion trying to figure out what to do with this recently crucified and resurrected Messiah. “…wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized you with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…” (Acts 1:4-8). Wait. Without the baptism of the Holy Spirit, do not move. Do not witness. Do not share. But when you have this Holy Spirit baptism, wow… you will have power. This mission will look entirely attractive. You will be entirely capable and equipped. You will want this. And you will be good at it. I wonder. Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit? If not, this is probably why you’re not interested in being on mission. “So, Chris, if I prefer to not be used by God in sharing my faith with other people, wouldn’t it be best to simply not seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit? If what you’re saying here is true, it seems to me that an ‘easy out’ from this unwanted assignment is to just avoid the Holy Spirit altogether.” Not bad logic. Except that you’ll miss out on the entire reason Jesus created you. You’ll miss out on the whole of what God has for you. Your Christianity will be stale, lifeless, and frankly useless to God’s ultimate agenda. Jesus didn’t save you and me to make our lives better. He saved us to use our lives to accomplish His purposes in the world. I know that sounds lofty. It may even put you under some unwanted pressure. But it’s true. You’ve read Psalm 139:13-16, haven’t you? Perhaps less well-known, but relevant nonetheless, consider Jeremiah 1:4-10. Or Isaiah 6:1-8. Or just buckle down and accept that Matthew 28:18-20 is an actual, present assignment for you and me and that Jesus being with you is the key. Or believe John 14:12 is a promise specific to you. Or Mark 16:15-18. Or Acts 2:39. Or Acts 18:9-10. Or 2 Corinthians 5:18-20. Shall I go on? This Sunday let’s get super practical. Let me tell you some stories about a few people who got baptized in the Holy Spirit, how it happened, and how they were different afterwards. Then, let’s look at the Word of God. Let’s explore the precise pattern of how the disciples found this unique experience. If we can see the pattern, perhaps we can follow it. For those of you who dare, maybe we can seek God together for precisely this same thing. You in? 10:00 a.m. this Sunday. Oh, and then let’s chase after God next Saturday, too… 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Unless you’re just not interested. ;-) Much love to you all… Chris Eads Mt. Hope Pastor Friend |
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Jesus said, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, & with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” - Matt. 22:37-39
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Ashburn, VA 20148
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