Transformed Lives Transforming The World

Merry Christmas from the Kincannon's

It's normally not this peaceful around our house, but we are learning to embrace the chaos.  We hope you enjoy your Christmas...Mark, Michelle, Mason, Maddax, and Mackenzie.

The King part 2

The idea of Christ as King is something that has really been on my mind lately and I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the Christmas season, but another reason that the concept of Christ's Kingship has been so intriguing to me is because it is a concept that appears through out Scripture, not just in the stories of Jesus' birth and in Revelation.

• Christ's identity as King shows up in his family tree.  Jesus is a descendant of David, Israel's most famous king.  Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:16- "Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever; your throne shall be established forever."

• The Lord is King forever and ever - Psalm 10:16

• How awesome is the Lord most high the King over all the earth - Psalm 47:2

• See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule in justice. - Isaiah 32:1 (a prophecy about Jesus)    

• Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God;you are the King of Israel." - John 1:49  

• "Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate.  "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. - Mark 15:2

• We even indirectly see Christ as King in Genesis.  In Genesis 14 Abraham encounters Melchizedek whose name means king of righteousness and who was the king of Salem.  Hebrews 7 describes Christ as a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek, so there is even a kingly nature to Christ's position as our great high priest.

From many different angles Scripture is clear that Jesus is king, and not just a king but the King of kings.  Do you live your life as if Jesus Christ is King?  Does your view of Jesus inspire you to give him honor, to trust him, to follow his leadership, and to serve him loyally?

(Mike Crain)

The King

Today I was listening to "What Child is This"  and the first chorus really stood out to me:

This, this is Christ the King, 

whom shepherds guard and angels sing; 

Haste, haste to bring him laud,

the babe the son of Mary.

This really captures the paradox of the first Christmas.  Lying in a manger was both a fragile baby and the King of kings.  I find it interesting that the New Testament begins and ends with Jesus as king.  In the second chapter of Matthew the magi recognize Jesus as the King of the Jews, even though he is only an infant at that point.  And despite Jesus being the Son of God and a future king his family is forced to run for their lives because of the wicked current king, Herod.  In Revelation 19 we see Jesus once again as King, but this time he is not doing any fleeing.  This time he is the conquering King.

The Bible makes Jesus' kingly status abundantly clear, and some of our Christmas songs even mention Jesus' royalty, but at this time of year I often find myself caught up in the image of Jesus as a meek little baby.  I often neglect to remember that Christmas is when God introduced into the world a King who would crush sin and death once and for all and who would rule in righteousness and justice.  Jesus truly is the King of kings.

On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. - Revelation 19:16

(Mike Crain)

Snacking

The Christmas holidays are an amazing time for snacking.  It seems like everyone brings baked goods to the office.  There are always more baked goods at home.  Every Christmas season brings with it at least a handful of Christmas parties which all assuredly have some sort of food at them, unless the hosts wants to find themselves with a bunch of cranky guests.  Then of course there is Christmas candy, which ranges from chocolate Santas to flavored candy canes and includes everything sugary and Christmasy in between.  Basically, at this time of year there is food everywhere.  And I'm not gonna lie to you...I love it.  It encourages me to snack all the time.  Surely I'd be remiss to pass up some homemade bake good or some candy that I had never tried before only to live in the anxiety that I had passed up something great.  At this time of year I often find myself snacking even when I'm not hungry, only because the food is so readily available.

What if I had the same attitude toward Scripture that I did toward food?  What if I was always taking in the word of God, even if I had just consumed some a little while ago?  I bet I would be more spiritually nourished than I am now.  I bet I would be more consistent in glorifying God through obedience, because I would constantly be reminded of his decrees and of his love, which moves me to action. There is no reason not to be continuously snacking on the Bible.  Scripture is so available to us.  It's everywhere.  You can a buy a Bible at Wal-Mart inexpensively.  The Bible is free on the internet.  Many of us can get it on our phones.  You can put an audio Bible on your ipod.  There are pictures frames with Scripture on them.  We can write it on note cards.  We can write it on our bathroom mirror.  We can put it on our screen saver.  We have no excuse not to be frequently taking in God's word.

Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord - Deuteronomy 8:3b (ESV)

For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land you are going over the Jordan to possess. - Deuteronomy 32:47 (ESV)

ARE YOU SNACKING?

tip: Proverbs is a great place to grab a short snack between meals

(Mike Crain)

Away in a Manger

Nativity scenes are a Christmas decoration classic, but I don't think they cut it.  It's not because all of the characters are usually white, which is highly inaccurate because Jesus was middle-eastern.  And it's not because all the wise men look super serious when in reality they probably would have been overjoyed.  It's because a decorative arrangement of characters can't compare with what Scripture says about Jesus.  Even though John gets pretty philosophical as he describes Jesus' entrance into the world he captures something that a doll lying in some hay can't quite convey.  Lying in that manger in Bethlehem was more than just a baby, because in that manger was Immanuel- God with us.

The Gospel of John explains:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. - John 1:1

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

It seems that every year at Christmas we are bombarded with the idea of "baby Jesus", which is all well and good, but the baby in that manger was also our amazing God who came to bring us true life, freedom, and salvation.  That is something that no image can capture fully, which makes me even more thankful that we have Scripture to tell us the whole story of what was happening at Jesus' birth.

(Mike Crain)

He Reigns

With the holidays being here, it seems like we all do the same things.  Maybe it's human nature, at least for most people.  We reflect back on the past, concentrate on the here and now, then look towards the future, being thankful as we ponder all three.

I can remember getting a call during my freshman year in college that my dad had suddenly passed away in a water accident while looking for a place to duck hunt.  The memory of that day will stay with me forever.  I learned a lot as a 19-year-old: how to deal with grief, depend on family and friends, pray, etc...At 36 I look back on that day and know I learned that HE REIGNS!

I said "I do" to my beautiful wife on December 19th, 1998.  We actually got married at Community Bible when we met in the mall.  God has put a wonderful woman in my life to put up with a man like me (no comments please).  We have had good and bad times, easy and hard times, sad and happy times in our ten years.  One thing I have learned is that HE REIGNS!

I reflect on the birth of my first son, Will, born on Christmas day 2004.  It was an unexpected arrival on Jesus' birthday, but something that was an incredible blessing to us as he still is today.  Though there were 9 days of NICU with uncertainty, things turned out fine, and my soon-to-be four-year-old continues to bring joy to my heart.  I learned something during those 9 days in the hospital with him and through Will's first four years...HE REIGNS!

I remember getting the call from our social worker on March 26, 2007.  She informed us the expectant mother who had chosen us to adopt her baby was in labor.  We packed up, went to the hospital, and brought our second son, Cy, home with us.  Then we waited for the 10-day revocation period to pass.  Two days after we arrived home, our social worker called to inform us that Cy's mom had decided to parent him.  Though I had experienced tough things in my life before, nothing seemed to come close to that.  We watched the social worker pull away from our house with the baby boy we had fallen deeply in love with.  Though it was like having my heart torn out, that day I learned that HE REIGNS!

I remember receiving a call from our social worker six weeks later informing me that Cy's birth mother had tried to parent but couldn't make it work, and she had asked us to be his family.  We brought him home again with joyful hearts.  I know that during those days and the 20 months following...HE REIGNS!

Happy or sad, good or bad, easy or hard... we are all in this life together.  Why the holidays make me reflect more, I don't know.  What I do know is HE REIGNS!  Thankfully.

Check out this song "You Reign"by MercyMe

Philippians 2:9-11

9So God lifted him up to the highest place.
      He gave him the name that is above every name.
 10 When the name of Jesus is spoken, everyone's knee will bow to worship him.
      Every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow to worship him.
 11 Everyone's mouth will say that Jesus Christ is Lord.
      And God the Father will receive the glory.

(Matt Whitson)

Count Your Blessings

"You should count your blessings."  It's a cliche phrase, but maybe it's true.  I think if we take a few moments to count some the ways that God blesses us, we would be surprised by the amazing graciousness of God.  Even though we know that God blesses us, sometimes we take for granted just how generous he is toward us.  So, take some time and start counting.  Don't stop until you get to at least 25, but I challenge you to keep going after that... see if you can get to 100.

Have a Blessed Day!

(Mike Crain)

Thanksgiving Missions

As I awake on this Thanksgiving Day I do so in much the same way that I have for the past 31 years--at home.  I'm yet to miss a Thanksgiving at home.  Of course my home has changed over the years.  This morning I awoke to a seven month old crying and a three year-old doing her apple juice dance at 6am.  Truth be told, home has never been so good.

As grateful as I am to be home, my mind has quickly turned to those who are not.  I neither know nor want to know what Thanksgiving is like away from home.  Some are not home because of family division, others because they are serving our country, and still others because they have willfully chosen to go to a foreign land in order to tell people about Jesus.  It is that last group that came to my mind this morning. 

Spread across the globe on this day are men, women, and children who have given up the comforts of home in order to go into the homes of others and share the life changing news of Jesus.  As their families gather for Thanksgiving a chair will be empty and a house will be a little more quiet.  It causes me to wonder if I believe enough in the mission of Christ to pray that one or both of the noisemakers currently destroying my house might one day take the message of Jesus to another people.  Would I be willing to give up a day like to day so that someone else might hear of Jesus?

Father, give me the faith that believes more in you than in my own comfort.  Give me a compassion for the world that would drive me to send my children to be a part of your mission to save it.  Father, give me a heart like yours.   

Thanksgiving in Greenwood

Below is an email sent out by Kathy Middleton.  She is part of one of our Greenwood Home Groups.  Their Home Group organized a Thanksgiving meal give away.  Many people that are part of the Greenwood Campus Launch team got involved in this and this was Kathy's response.

"Wow!  Yesterday was so great and made possible by each of you individually and all of you collectively!  No matter what part you had in the Thanksgiving in a Bag you helped make it happen!  There were 39 sacks of groceries and 39 turkeys given out at the Dogwood Apartments yesterday afternoon.  To see all of you standing there in the cold and no one wanting to leave until the final sack was given away was more awesome than I can describe.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Please forward this to anyone who helped us so everyone will know what a huge success it was."

This is pretty cool.  "Transformed Lives Transforming Their World"

If your interested in being part of this great team that is going to launch our Greenwood Campus please let me know.

(Mark Kincannon)

Blessings

Whenever the week of Thanksgiving rolls around I usually begin to spend a little more time focusing on ways that God has blessed me.  Often those thoughts of thankfulness toward God are primarily concerned with tangible things that God has given me, and that means that I often neglect to recognize the amazing spiritual blessings God has lavished upon me.  However, this morning I read Psalm 107 and it drew my attention back to the glorious work that God has done, and is doing, within me.  His grace is astounding.  Take sometime to read Psalm 107.  Read the NIV here.  Read the ESV here.

(Mike Crain)

Traditions

Traditions…if they work, keep them; if they don’t, get rid of them.  I am not normally a traditionalist.  I like to change things up, especially if they aren’t working.  Make something new, fresh, and exciting.  Make something work.  That is one reason I love working at Community.  If it doesn’t work, we change it. On the other hand, traditions that work are very good.  Keep them, then critique them to make them better.

 

During the holidays, I can remember a few traditions my family had as I was growing up:  Santa Claus, an Advent Calendar with a chocolate treat everyday leading up to Christmas, grandparents’ houses for presents and eats, football, and reading of the Christmas story on Christmas morning.

 

As an adult, it’s time to make my own traditions. I’ve been married to my wife, Becca, for ten years, and we have two boys, almost four years and twenty months old.  As we raise our sons, we want to have our own traditions. My wife recently brought to my attention some traditions that she thought would be nice to have in our family for the holidays. One thing she suggested was Family Friday the day after Thanksgiving with just our immediate family.  Most people are breaking down the doors of stores trying to get the best deals on Christmas gifts.  Why not stay at home, relax with the family, cook breakfast, and turn off the TV?  Play some games and enjoy one day with just the family.  

 

Another tradition we are starting this year at our house is having a Jesse Tree. The Jesse Tree is named from Isaiah 11:1: "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots."  It is a vehicle to tell the Story of God in the Old Testament, and to connect the Advent Season with the faithfulness of God across 4,000 years of history.  In this way, we are consciously choosing to practice the most important tradition of all—teaching our children to love the Lord.  It is our prayer that our boys will imitate us now, then eventually grow to have their own personal relationships with Him.

 

Family traditions, especially around the holidays, are important.  Create them now, and they’ll create great memories to think and talk about later.  Don’t look back and wish that you had family traditions.  It’s never too late to start.  I think it is very important for us to look at the traditions we practice or don’t practice.  If they work, keep them, add to them, and look forward to them.  If you don’t have traditions (or the ones you have don’t work), do something about it. 

 

Hebrews 13:7-8 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.  Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

(Matt Whitson)

 

 

 

It's that time of year again...

I love Thanksgiving and Christmas.  My wife, Michelle, loves them a lot more than I do.  I mean a lot more.  She is not normal.  At our house, this means as soon as the Halloween candy is gone the Christmas stuff comes out.  She is nine months pregnant and our tree is already out.  Her love for the Holiday season (I only say Holiday because I'm including Thanksgiving) is one of my favorite things about her.  Plus, I love to give her a hard time about it.  She is psycho.  

While I love this time of year I have a negative memory that resurfaces every year as November rolls around.  It is the memory of my Mom and Dad and extended family asking me what I was doing for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  My parents are divorced, and I was going to have to decide which family I was going to be with on which holiday.  I was always torn and I always felt like I was letting someone down when I chose the other one.  Don't get me wrong I have four great parents.  God truly blessed me with top of the line step-parents.  I know that not everyone is so fortunate.  

I also know that one of the first big disagreements that Michelle and I had our first year of marriage was about where we would spend Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Not only did we have to chose whose parents, but which set of whose parents.  Her parents are also divorced and remarried.  

It's hard to please everyone and not hurt anyone's feelings, let me rephrase that...it's impossible to please everyone.  Because of this we decided to just create a schedule of when we will visit each set of family members (they all live out of town) and stick to this same schedule every year.  That way there are no questions and no decisions.  (Except this year because we might be in the hospital meeting our new baby girl, Mackenzie, on one of them)  Some parents don't see us on the actual holiday, but the schedule has been working pretty good the last several years.  Having kids of our own makes this a necessity because all five sets of the grandparents want to see the kids way more than they want to see us, and I don't blame them at all.

All this to say that family is important, but not the most important thing during this time of the year.  Christ is the most important thing during this time of the year and every time of the year.  So if your experiencing some of these planning frustrations, whether it be from a child's or parent's vantage point please keep things in proper perspective.  It's not about me and it's not about you. It's about Christ.  Colossians 1:15-20 speaks of the supremacy of Christ.  

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

May we let this truth govern the way that we react to all the situations we are in during this time of year and every time of year.

(Mark Kincannon)

A Holiday Message From Ahab & Jezebel

Revisiting a familiar story this morning from 1 Kings 25 about Ahab and Jezebel put me in a thoughtful mode as I ponder the beginning 2008’s holiday season. Maybe you’ll find them worth considering too.

When Jezebel cast her bewitching spell on Ahab it was proof enough that foreign vixens have a way with weak-willed men—any way they want. So enchanted was Ahab by her seduction that he decreed Ba’alism, a vulgar system of pagan worship, to be the official religion for God’s people just to impress her…which it did. But it didn’t impress everyone. In particular, it didn’t impress God. He’s never impressed when people abuse whatever power they have and become corrupt, especially when those people are his people. Ahab wasn’t the first, or the last, leader to turn corrupt believing he could serve God and mammon…you can’t, you know.

Besides his arrogance, he was greedy—very greedy—which ultimately led to Ahab and Jezebel’s demise. The royal couple was rich and powerful. They already had more than anyone had a right to have, lived in palatial palaces, plural, and laid claim to owning the best of the best of everything that was to be had by anyone—but it wasn’t enough. Like most of us, they wanted more, and their lust for it enslaved them.

Before we too quickly dismiss the similarity, consider life in twenty-first century America. I hate to have to admit it, but the fact is I’m as guilty as the next guy of being starry-eyed about having all of these things I’ve been seeing in the catalogues that are flooding our mailbox these days. Well, not all of it; J. Jill and Pottery Barn don’t do much for me. But some of these others really catch my eye.  Probably gets your attention too. It’s the kind of thing that gets to all of us—some more than others—but we’re all guilty I think.

            To a point, and it’s kind of a fuzzy, hard to see point, wanting more is useful, because it helps us get out of bed and go to work. But when it crosses that fuzzy point, we can become just as corrupt and Ahab and Jezebel. And that’s dangerous for two reasons: 

1. What we can become when we don't get it. Wanting more—the latest gizmos and gadgets, the biggest this and the smallest that—and not getting it can leave us depressed, jealous, envious, and full of self pity like Ahab and Jezebel. 
2. What we can become when we do get it. This may be the greater danger for us. What we can become once we get whatever it is we want has, I think, done far more damage to us than we feared not having stuff would—it’s just harder to detect. It can lead us to become arrogant, greedy, superior, entitled, and corrupt, just like Ahab and Jezebel.

            Maybe we could learn something about seeking happiness by limiting our desires, rather than attempting to satisfy them.

Lord, in our all too frequent quest for more we find that we are often

Too tired to take time to give you our thanks,

Too busy to bother with worshiping you as we live and work,

Too selfish to share our joy with the suffering and the sad,

Too hurt to forgive the one who forgot or caused the pain,

Too frightened to offer the stranger a friendly smile or word,

Too full of self to be faithful to you, who creates, fulfills, and loves us.

We confess our sins of doubt and selfishness, and we ask you to forgive us.

Despite the despair and depression we sometimes feel for not having all we want,

Regardless of doubt and disappointment in feeling that we might never have it,

We want to live only as you would desire for us. Amen

 

 (Ed Saucier)