December 5, 2025, 4:00 PM
Greetings in Christ! I pray you've had a good week as we've welcomed in December and kicked off the Christmas season!
The snow on the ground this week, hopefully, has filled folks with some "Christmas Spirit" and gotten them into the joy of the Holiday season.
We have several special services and events coming up this month at First Christian Church.
Our churchwide Christmas Dinner will take place following the morning worship service on Sunday, December 14th.
Our Associate Minister, Rafaelito Fraden, has been working hard on our Christmas Cantata (morning worship) and Candlelight Service (evening) scheduled for Sunday, December 21st.
Mark your calendars and make plans to be in attendance -- You'll be blessed!
The Apostle John is recognized as the author of multiple books in our New Testament.
Near the end of the New Testament, we have the short, concise writings of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John.
These letters are very brief, so they get right to the point.
3rd John is about doing good. He is writing to a believer named Gaius. John is encouraging him to keep doing good by following Jesus and the Truth.
Listen to what John writes in 3 John, verses 9 and 11 -- "I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God."
Apparently, Diotrephes was a local teacher who loved being in charge and loved him some Diotrephes. He did not put others first and, therefore, was hurting the church. His example is what we would expect in the world. It, however, has no place in the spiritual leadership of God's Kingdom.
We've selected leaders at FCC that the church will confirm this Sunday. Let's pray for these men and that they would be imitators of God.
In fact, let us all be imitators of God!
As Paul said in Ephesians 5:1-2: "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma."
I will continue in the sermon series called "Names for Christmas" this coming Sunday (12.07.25) as we talk about Jesus as our "SAVIOR."
Remember that our Annual Congregational Meeting will take place following the morning worship service this Sunday.
I hope and pray you have a great weekend and that we'll see you at FCC this Sunday!
God Bless,
Greg H.
