In This Issue

Ministry Announcements

Scripture of the Month

Did You Know?

Bible History

Testimonies

"I am attending 'The New Testament' Sunday school class facilitated by Tommy Smith and Ralph Davis. The class allows us to ask questions and share thoughts that we all wanted to know. We ponder the "what ifs," and the answers are always found in scripture. The facilitator inspires thought provoking questions which we collectively discuss and encourage one another. The class is allowing me to grow my knowlegde in the word and thrive to live a life more closely resembling Christ. Although not perfect, but I'm being sincere about the person I am."

—Renea Burns

"It's been said that the best way to learn is to teach. This has certainly been my experience! While my role may be facilitator, I am forever the student enjoying my fellow students as we seek to grow in the Lord together."

"In the last few years, we've had engaging studies around prayer, getting to know God better as we studied his Old Testament names, learned how to discipline our minds through the power of the Holy Spirit, how to grow in the fruits of the Spirit, and learned about personal transformation by studying the Samaritan woman at the well. Now we are talking a fresh look at Jesus so we can become more like him.

"What I enjoy most is the sense that my classmates and I are on a journey to grow in Christ. We study, share, laugh, question, and encourage one another on our journey. And, we are growing! We have a long way to go, of course, but with God's grace, we definitely are not where we started. It's an exciting adventure and well worth getting to class by 8:45 each Sunday!"

—Tammy Long

 

Ministry Announcements

BASS Convention 2008

Join us for the 45th Bay Area Sunday School (BASS) Church Workers Convention March 6-8 at Redwood Chapel in Castro Valley. There are over 350 workshops to choose from with topics including 21st Century Issues, Adult & Small Groups, Early Childhood, Evangelism & Outreach, Singles & Single Parents, and Worship, Music & Drama. There's definitely something for everyone!

For more information, visit the BASS Convention website at www.bassconvention.org. If you're interested in attending, simply show up! South Bay Community Church is already signed up.

Creative Guru Needed

Have a nack for promotions? Enjoy making presentations, posters and fliers? Then we're looking for you! The Christian Formation Ministry needs a volunteer with a gift of creativity to help us market our classes and activities. If you are interested or would like to find out more about this opportunity, please contact Tammy Long.

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Scripture of the Month

The Lemon Tree

God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. — 1 John 4:16

People who have given up on love probably agree with the words to the song "Lemon Tree" by the folk group Peter, Paul, and Mary:

"Don't put your faith in love,
my boy," my father said to me,
"I fear you'll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree."
Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet
but the fruit of the poor lemon
is impossible to eat.

Many people feel that way. "Love is bitter," they say, because they've been used or abused. But there is a love that is sweet: "God is love" (1 John 4:16).

The world wants to turn John's phrase around. "Love is God," they say, and seek love as the highest good. But John did not say that love is God. "God is love," he said. Author Frederick Buechner wrote, "To say that love is God is romantic idealism. To say that God is love is either the last straw or the ultimate truth."

The last straw? Yes, for some it is. They have looked for love in all the wrong places and have no other place to turn. But when they give themselves to God, as He is made real and personal in Jesus, they find the love they've been looking for all their lives.

God is not indifference, abandonment, and abuse, my friend. God is love.

—David H. Roper

Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know—
Spirit, breathing from above,
Thou hast taught me it is so. —Robinson

God's love knows no limits.

From Our Daily Bread, October 22, 2004

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Did You Know?

Five Tips to Help You Deepen Your Faith

1. Spend Time With God: Well this may seem obvious, this is probably the one thing that people have the hardest time doing. However, it's the most important tip. Just like with any relationship, you can't know God if you don't spend any time with him. To learn how to do this, check out this seven part series on "Spending Time With God" written by Pastor Danny Hodges of Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg in Florida.
2. Read the Bible: Everything you need to know to deal with life's ups and downs as a Christian has been provided for us in God's Word.
3. Develop a Daily Devotional: Just like with so many other things, the Christian life takes practice. You must be able to pick up your cross daily by constantly refreshing and rejuvinating yourself in His Word. Here are some resources to help you develop a lasting devotional plan.
4. Develop a Prayer Life: One of the most rewarding benefits of a Christian life is direct access to our God. When you need comfort, direction, or peace or you want to praise and thank Him, all you have to do is go to Him in prayer. No fancy speeches and words are necessary. Here are some ways to help you begin.
5. Get Involved in a Church: So many view going to church either as a requirement or the evidence of being a Christian. However the real reason for going to church is to gather together with other believers for rejuvenation, accountability and shared praise and worship. Need help finding a place of worship? Here are some resources.

From "Deepen Your Faith" by Mary Fairchild — About.com

Bible History

The Early New Testament Church Part II: The Geographic Expansion of the Church Under Persecution

The expansion of Christianity was a direct--if unanticipated--result of persecution. On the very day that Stephen became the first Christian martyr, a severe persecution broke out in Jerusalem. Christians who fled the city became scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, proclaming the gospel wherever they went (Acts 8:1-4).

Philip headed north to an unidentified city in the region of Samaria, which many scholars conjecture to have been ancient Samaria (1 Kings 20:1), then called Sebaste. Others point to Gitta, or to Sychar, which Jesus was reported in John 4 to have visited.

At any rate, so many converts were won through Philip's evangelistic endeavors that Peter and John came to join him. As they later returned to Jerusalem, they followed Philip's lead, preaching in Samaritan villages along the way (Acts 8:25). Philip was then dispatched south of Jerusalem toward the ancient Philistine city of Gaza, where he experienced his encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39). In the Greco-Roman world, Ethiopia was considered to be the southernmost extend of civilization, so this incident may have previewed for early Christians the promise of the message going out "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

Acts 8 concludes with Philip, farther north on the Mediterranean coast, preaching from Azotus to Caesarea, where he eventually settled (Acts 21:8). His travels would have taken him through Lydda and Joppa, probably the "cities" (Acts 8:40) in which he preached. It seems that Peter again followed Philip's path by stopping to preach in Lydda and Joppa, as well as to Cornelius in Caesarea (Acts 9:32-10:48).

Christianity also spread eastward to Damascus; Saul had been en route there when he had experienced his dramatic conversion (Acts 9:1-6). In Acts 11:19-26 Luke added additional detail about the scattering of the Jerusalem believers: Some disciples ventured north of Galilee into the region of Phoenicia and even farther to the city of Antioch, while others journeyed westward to the island of Cyprus. By the end of Acts, Paul had reached Rome, the capital of the then-known world. It was from this city that the Godd News eventually spread throughout the Roman Empire to provinces as far away as Africa and Europe.

From the NIV Archaeological Study Bible: An Illustrated Walk Through Biblical History and Culture

Copyright © 2005 by the Zondervan Corporation

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