Herod tries everything in his power to extinguish the Christ in Christmas. In Matthew 2, we read that he orders the massacre of all the little boys less than two years old living in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas. The Christmas story is not about a peaceful birth of baby resting quietly in the manger. It’s a tense and stressful situation, involving danger for each individual connected to the story, because this birth would forever impact the world, and Herod was out to stop it.

Joseph gets the news that his fiance is pregnant and he knows that he is not the father. What is he to do? The angel of the Lord gives him the answer, "take Mary as your wife". From that moment on, Joseph had to be all-in, he could not kind of be Jesus' father. That call has never changed, we are called to give everything we have to Jesus and follow him with all our passion and devotion. And the result of that is abundant life! What good news this Christmas season.

The Christmas story, while well known, is really strange. And there is no more surprising part of the birth of Jesus than the fact that he was born to a peasant girl from Nazareth named Mary. In Mary, we are reminded that God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things and that there is nothing that is impossible with God. Do we believe that this is still true? If so, it should drive us to live as he has called us to live and in doing so, see him use us to make an eternal difference.

On this day, we spent the morning hearing wonderful stories of God's work and then watched as 10 were baptized. What a great morning and testimony of the way the gospel transforms lives.

Singing in church can be really awkward, so why do we do it? There is no more frequent command throughout the Bible than to sing praises to our Heavenly Father, it is a practice that goes way back. And as we sing, our faith connects with our head and our hearts through the lyrics and the music. So sing! And as you do, experience and understand the love of your Heavenly Father more deeply.

Does prayer matter? Do our words actually go beyond the ceiling or is it a pointless exercise? We are not only called to pray, but Scripture calls us to pray for one another. And as we do, the crazy promise is healing. Do you believe in prayer? As we grow in our understanding and passion for prayer, then the result will be that we will pray!

Children are a gift from God given to parents. Parents, what is your primary responsibility regarding your children? And to the church community, what role are you to play in the lives of the children at FCCC? The answer is to not only teach them the good news of Jesus, but to live out the gospel for them to see. As our children see adults passionate for Jesus, they will better understand the gospel.

Like Communion, baptism is something that most of us have grown up with, but what does it mean? In answering questions about how we will baptize at FCCC, we look to answer the bigger question of what baptism signifies in the Bible. And the challenge is clear, if you have given your life to Christ, then be baptized and proclaim it to the world!

If you have grown up in the church, then you have likely taken part in communion, or the Lord's Supper, in some form or fashion. Have you ever wondered what the point of it is? By taking the tradition back to the words of Jesus, we look to highlight the importance of communion in the life of the church as a way of remembering the good news of what Jesus has done on our behalf.