Final preparations are being made for our Christmas Eve Celebration built around the theme “The Night Before Christmas.” It’s going to be an uplifting night of fun, celebration and worship! We are delighted to announce that TNCer Kathryn McCormick (3rd place finisher on Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance”) will be dancing in each service. We hope you are planning to INVITE friends and family members who are dechurched or unchurched. I promise there will be a clear presentation of the love and hope found in Jesus! The service times are 4:00, 5:30 and 7:00 pm in the NAHS auditorium. PLEASE NOTE: We will not have childcare in our 7:00 pm service. We expect big crowds in each service so get there early!
We will also be receiving OUR CHRISTMAS EVE OFFERING for the RENOVATION of the 12,800 square ft. building (Old Fox Creek HS) on Martintown Rd. near exit 1. We have already started demolition on the facility and look forward to a grand opening for our Student Ministry in February. If we believe this GENERATION must be reached for Christ, we must INVEST in it. We want to renovate this building in a way that reaches teens today! We believe we need at least $30,000 to do it well and that’s what we are praying for. We will only be asking those who are in the TNC family to participate in the offering. I want to encourage you to bring a Christmas gift to Jesus to help us advance His Kingdom through the ministry of this new facility. I pray that your gift will be generous as we continue to follow God’s lead at TNC!
Please continue to remember Jay and Laura Knotts in the loss of their infant-girl, Campbell last week. During the holidays they will be going out of town. Please continue to pray for them, as well as their daughter Carrington. Please send all cards, letters or if you desire to bless them (some have asked), a gift (restaurant) card, to 131 Summerlake Dr., North Augusta, SC 29860.
Don’t forget Sunday services on Dec. 27, will be held at 10:00 and 11:30 am. We will not have an 8:30 am service on Sunday. JourneyLand (babies-preschoolers) will be provided, however Kidz Stuff (K-5th grade) will join us in the auditorium for worship.
On behalf of the TNC Staff I want to thank you for the many cards, gifts and goodies that we have received during the past couple weeks. It’s a joy to serve you TNC! We love you and pray that Emmanuel will fill you with peace, hope and love this Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Steve Davis, Lead Pastor
THE MESSAGE: A Promise Born
Watch messages online throughout the week at http://www.truenorthchurch.com.
The birth of Jesus begot God's guarantee to us: "I will be with you." We must first be born of the Spirit to inherit the Kingdom of God. This frees us from our present and past, and will one day free us of our sinful nature when we are in the physical presence of God. God promises He is with us now. This promise is in the very name of Jesus:
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:22, 23 NIV)
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14 NIV)
What does "God with us" mean for us today? It is God's greatest picture for us. God loves us. That can be hard to grasp in all its splendor, as we live in a world where love is often followed by betrayal. God's love is not like that. He loves us with no conditions. It is a love you can't get away from.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38, 39 NIV)
God's love is unconditional, consuming, powerful.
Immanuel is with you no matter what (Hebrews 13:5-6, 8 NIV). He is with you in your pain and when you don't know where to turn. The tendency is to blame others when we are hurting. Blame will lead to bitterness. Let go of these things, and God will come into the situation. He's big enough to handle your pain.
THE MUSIC: Sunday morning setlist.
Click "listen" to the right of the songs to hear them.
Let God Arise - Chris Tomlin [listen]
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Miley Cyrus [listen]
The First Noel - Kari Jobe [listen]
Go Tell It - Lee McDerment [listen]
Everything Falls - Fee [listen]
- A HEAVY HEART - I write this update with a heavy heart. The TNC staff and community were saddened by the tragic news of the loss of Jay and Laura Knotts newborn infant on Wednesday morning. Our love, prayers, and tears go out to the Knotts family in this time of mourning. I would ask that you give the Knotts some time to process all of this together and give them some precious space. The best way we can care at this time is to be faithful in prayer for them. If you wish, please send cards and letters to Jay, Laura, and Carrington. The address is 131 Summerlake Dr., North Augusta, SC 29860.
- “DELIVERED” - We continue our Christmas series, DELIVERED, on Sunday. I will be sharing about the PROMISED hope that we have despite the pain, difficulties, and tragedies that occur in this life. I look forward to our time together as we focus our hearts on EMMANUEL this Christmas.
- HELP A FAMILY WITH CHRISTMAS -With Christmas a week away, we at TNC are aware of multiple families, both internal and external, that are in need of assistance this Christmas. If you or your J-Team are interested in adopting one of these families please email your information to linkdup@truenorthchurch.com or contact our Missions Pastor Mike Fiedler. We are praying that we would be able to meet these needs promptly with Christmas quickly approaching.
- CHRISTMAS EVE @ TNC- Our Christmas Eve services will be at 4:00 pm, 5:30 pm and 7:00 pm. We have planned a special service of celebration and worship with a clear presentation of Christ to be given. Pick up some INVITE cards at Guest Services and invite your friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Let’s get them to Christmas Eve at TNC! A reminder, there will be no baby or preschool childcare in the 7:00 pm service.I look forward to our time together Sunday. During times likes these I’m especially grateful that we have the community of love and faith that we share at TrueNorth Church. See you Sunday!
Steve Davis, Lead Pastor
THE MESSAGE: Born Free
Watch messages online throughout the week at http://www.truenorthchurch.com.
In the first week of the Delivered series, we learned Jesus wants us to be born of the Spirit. This is the second birth--or being born again--that is taught about in the Bible. When we are born of the Spirit, Jesus wants to deliver us from a life of bondage to our sinful nature and give us freedom in Him. The account of the birth of Jesus in Matthew says that He came to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21 NIV).
As God begins by delivering us from our past through Jesus, He continues to work in us until we are with Him (Philippians 1:6 NIV). Although our freedom from sin comes immediately, a person born of the Spirit still has two natures: that of the Holy Spirit and that of the world. However, what God has given us in our deliverance is far greater than that of the sins that keep us from Him.
Being born free means we have been freed from the penalty of sin. That penalty is death, or separation from God for eternity. God wants us to trust in Him, and then He can save us. We are freed from the power of sin. The two natures living inside of us are at war with each other, but Jesus gave us the power to not choose to give in to our weaknesses. We need to remember we have the power of Christ inside of us against sin. We will one day be freed from the presence of sin. When we are with God, our old nature will be gone. We will no longer have to deal with the things of this world that separate us from God. We will be in His presence without the presence of sin. That's the joy of Christ in us.
THE MUSIC: Here are the songs that accompanied Sunday's message.
Click "listen" next to the songs to hear them.
Awesome is the Lord Most High - Chris Tomlin [listen]
O Come All Ye Faithful - Chris Tomlin [listen]
I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous) - Chris Tomlin [listen]
Silent Night (Emmanuel) - Matt Maher [listen]
Came to My Rescue - Hillsong United [listen]
As the weekend quickly approaches, our Christmas Bash will
highlight our weekend at TNC! The Christmas party for kids from preschool to 5th
grade will be held from 2:00 – 4:00 pm on Sunday after our services in the North Augusta
High School gymnasium. Many
of our TNC leaders have put a lot of energy and effort in to making this a
special day for our kids! About 130 kids
have registered to be a part of our biggest Christmas outreach to date!
As a part of the Christmas Bash, we will have some special
friends on campus for our 11:30 am service. Many of our families and friends
from Ridgeview will be in attendance as our invited guests. We are pumped about
the opportunity to welcome them to TrueNorth Church. For many of them, this will be their first
visit to TNC! We are excited about having them with us for the service and the
Christmas Bash!
We will continue our Christmas series, “Delivered”, in Matthew as we continue to discover the profound difference that baby Jesus can make in our lives 2000 years later! I can’t wait to share Sunday’s message with you as we talk about the “freedom” we find in our Savior. I hope you plan to INVITE someone to attend with you because this will be one of those messages that could CHANGE their destiny forever!
I will see you Sunday as we put CHRIST in your Christmas!
Steve Davis,
Lead Pastor
Last Sunday, Steve announced that Element Student Ministries will have a new home in early 2010. Praise God that we have too little space in The Depot and we need more room for our students! We have made arrangements to lease the old Foxcreek High School building at 1297 W. Martintown Rd. near Exit 1 and I-20. This space will be a vast improvement over The Depot as it will expand Element’s facility almost threefold!
The remainder of the 12,000+ square foot building will be converted into TNC’s offices. This building will also serve as a gathering place for Class 101, Journey Teams, meetings, band practices, etc. We are excited about having a place where everything outside of Sunday morning ministries is under one roof!
You may wonder how this fits in our long range plans. One word: Perfectly! Why are we doing this now? First of all, Element desperately needs more space. We’ve been searching for another site for our student ministry for quite awhile. Second, by moving Element and our offices into this facility it will allow us to build more in the future on our land. As Steve explained Sunday, during our preliminary planning with our architect we have drawn 4 “boxes” to facilitate our ministries: Journey Land, KidzStuff, Worship Center, and Element/Office space. This will eliminate the need to build 4 boxes in our first building phase. We can focus on building three boxes instead of four.
How much will this cost? After initial upfitting, the lease on the new building will be less than the rent we currently pay for the Depot, offices, and storage units. We are going to try to upfit the new building for about $30,000. Therefore, our Christmas Eve offering will be dedicated to the renovations of our new Student Ministries space. We plan to tackle this project with a lot of volunteer labor so you may be called on to clean, paint, hammer, install, or anything else we can think of to get this job done!
Pray about your part in the Christmas Eve offering and how you can contribute to this exciting project! We believe this is definitely a GOD-THING! As usual, He brings the right people and right circumstances to us at just the right time! What a thrill it is to watch Him work!
Glad to be a part of the adventure with you,
Gene Jennings, Associate Pastor
When Steve said another special Sunday was coming last week, we definitely saw why. One of the reasons was the announcement of the future location of Element Student Ministries and the TrueNorth Church Offices and in the old Fox Creek High School location on Martintown Road in North Augusta. God is meeting needs in a way only HE can with this building, as it is the same square footage our architect and staff have determined we will require to have these things on our land in the future! This allows for us to use these facilities in the interim while our land is being paid for and buildings for Sunday morning ministries make their way onto the property first. What a blessing from an all-providing GOD!
This past Sunday was also the beginning of our Christmas series, Delivered. Each week in this series will provide an in-depth look at Matthew's account of Jesus' birth in the Bible. This week's focus was on the physical birth of Jesus, how He was born of the Spirit, and how we are to be as well. Take a look . . .
THE MESSAGE: Born of the Spirit
Watch messages throughout the week online at http://www.truenorthchurch.com.
Matthew 1:18 recalls, "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit" (NIV). Jesus made it clear throughout His ministry that being born in the Spirit is something for all of us. Jesus explained what this means in John 3:3-8:
[...] Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (NIV).
This means a second birth and a new life with the Spirit of God living inside of us. It is the birth of God's life in you. Being a part of the Kingdom of God is to be born of the Spirit. The Spirit is our way to Heaven. This is something we may not fully understand, but we don't have to understand something to embrace it and for it to be a part of us.
The Holy Spirit is the Comforter. He comes to comfort you and provides an unexplainable peace. He is a Counselor. He is always with you, guiding you in the truth. He convicts. He speaks to your heart and tells you what should and should not be. The Holy Spirit is God (John 14:16-18). He is equal to Jesus, and according to Jesus is the best thing we could have. The Holy Spirit, the breath of God, is living in believers (John 16:7).
You are born of the Spirit if you step over the line of faith, and are missing out if you're not living in the Spirit after that. It is the life God wants us all to have.
THE MUSIC: Here are the songs that accompanied Sunday's message.
All Creation Sing (Joy to the World) by Fee [listen]
Let God Arise by Chris Tomlin [listen]
Sing, Sing, Sing by Chris Tomlin [listen]
O Holy Night
Everlasting God by Chris Tomlin [listen]
We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and “Dunk’d” services last weekend! We baptized 27 people and God’s presence was apparent in the worship, cheers and tears. Before I look forward to another exciting WEEKEND, I want to give a BIG SHOUT OUT to each of you that participated in BUYING and BLESSING others with turkeys for THANKSGIVING. The final numbers are in and we were able to BLESS over 150 families with turkey and we raised over $10,000 for our TNC LAND!!!! Incredible Job TNCers and thanks a lot “BIG DADDY” for all your hard work!
Our “DUNK’D” services jumpstarted the Holiday season as we now look forward to the CHRISTMAS SEASON! This Sunday we begin a powerful series entitled, DELIVERED. We invite you to wrap your hearts around the precious and practical truths found in the Christmas story as recorded by Matthew. I can’t tell you how excited that I am to share these messages with YOU and THOSE YOU INVITE to join us! This three week series will lead us to conclude the Christmas season at our special TNC CHRISTMAS EVE service, “THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!” We will have 3 service times at 4:00, 5:30 and 7:00 pm. The last service childcare will not be available. INVITE cards can be picked up at Guest Services for you to invite family, friends and co-workers as culminate our CELEBRATION of the NEW-BORN KING!
Sunday, I will also be making another SPECIAL and EXCITING ANNOUNCMENT concerning God’s leading of TrueNorth Church! You don’t want to miss the good news as our Father continues to open doors of opportunity for the ministry of TNC to grow and expand!!!
Finally, please be in prayer for another TNC mission team that leaves in the morning to minister and serve in Guatemala next week. We have another strong team that is excited about taking the love of Jesus to those who haven’t heard! Please keep them in your prayers all week!
Can’t wait to see you Sunday as we begin a season of Celebrating that Christ has come!
I Love You,
Steve Davis
Laad Pastor
As we prepare to celebrate a Holiday focused on giving thanks, my prayer for you and your family is that you would stop and give thanks. Carve some time in your schedule this weekend to pause and share the things you are most thankful for. Before you finish have a family member close in prayer thanking God for your many blessings!
Just a Reminder….Gobble! Gobble!
Gobble!
TOMORROW - Wednesday, November 25th we will distribute our TNC turkeys at North Augusta High School between 11am & 1pm. For those who have pre-ordered, well come and get-em! (all proceeds go to the TNC land fund.)
If you either forgot or just didn’t have time to pre-order, I’ve been told we will have Turkeys for sale. Just come by the High School and pick one up. You can get one for a family member or better yet, bring them with you so they can get their own. The Turkeys are between 12-14 lbs. and cost $25.00. They are AWESOME! So why cook if you don’t have to.
No calls to the church office please…. first come, first get-em! I will see you guys there it’s gonna be lot’s of fun!
DUNK’D this Sunday, November 29. Finish off your Holiday by attending our Dunk’d services on Sunday at one of our three services at 8:30, 10:00 or 11:30 am. Over 30 folks will be baptized as we celebrate men, women, boys and girls going public with their faith in Jesus Christ! It’s going to be a HUGE CELEBRATION so don’t miss it!
Enjoy the Holiday and I will see you Sunday!
Steve Davis, Lead Pastor
THE MESSAGE: Hide Your Heart
Watch messages online throughout the week at http://www.truenorthchurch.com.
God thinks marriage is beautiful, and we need to realize what can wreck it. In the conclusion of How to Wreck Your Marriage, Jay Knotts shared what happens when you hide your heart. Your heart is the most authentic "you." It is where your identity is found. Having "yes, dear" or "if Mama ain't happy . . ." mentalities are not helpful, but very destructible to a marriage and to the individual. They mean your heart (or identity) is being lost in other things.
Uncover your heart. Your identity matters! You have to have a voice, and you have to have a choice. This can't be done when you pile on the problems of those around you to the point they define you. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that God made each of us as his masterpieces. We're all unique, and it would be a tragedy if you're hidden. Don't take on everything. What you say yes to and what you say no to defines who you are. This is why dominating spouses can hide your identity.
You marriage needs a pressure release valve, like what is found in Ephesians 4:15-16:
Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. (NLT)
Marriage is two identities, and it does not work when hearts are hidden. Don't hide your heart behind aggression and defensiveness. Christian research has proven, through case studies followed for 10 years, with 95% accuracy, that you need five positive interactions for every one negative to spiral your marriage back up (The Gottman Ratio). This does not coincide with being aggressive or defensive. Dropping communicative "atomic bombs" only leads to massive explosions. Interactions out of the fruits of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control--are positive and beneficial to your marriage (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV).
Beware of the marital "four horsemen of the Apocalypse." These are criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling. Criticism lies in finding fault and attacking it. Rather than criticize, empathize. Sarcasm, humiliation and insults are all forms of contempt. Not listening to anyone else and relying on your own reasoning alone is a symptom of defensiveness. When you withdraw, lay distance and have a smug, "I'm done," attitude, you are stonewalling your spouse. Don't put these four things into practice, but rather live out Philippians 4:8-9:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (NIV)
Surrender your heart to healing and restoration. When you do this, some amazing things can happen. Look at Ezekiel 36:22-27. In it, we see where God first healed and restored Ezekiel, and then led him to the land of bones. Through Ezekiel, God rode the dry bones, put flesh back on them, and breathed wind into them to bring them back to life. God wants to heal and restore us, and reveal His glory through us; through our marriages. Will we let him?
THE MUSIC: Click "listen" to hear the songs that accompanied the message.
