Merry Christmas!

I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. Remember to keep Christ in Christmas and of course, enjoy the eggnog (without the alcohol obviously)!

Church Discipline

Well, without giving any details, etc., we (Ebenezer Baptist Church) exercised church discipline to the point of exclusion about one week ago. There was a situation where we took approximately 6 months to pray, teach, and approach the subject. In my opinion all these actions are to be considered church discipline. However, the person involved would not repent, and we excluded them from membership. After the official vote, we gathered together and prayed for this person hoping that they might repent of the particular sin. Of course, we know God can do great things, and we hope He will move in a mighty way in this individual's life. The question I have is how many of you have ever exercised church discipline to the point of exclusion? How did it affect your church? Did you use it as a teaching opportunity? I have more to say about how God has already used this event, but I'll stop for now.

Prayer Request

Please pray for my family. I lost my grandmother this morning (Wednesday) at 11:50 am. Pray that my grandfather will have the strength he needs as it was a sudden, severe stroke that killed her. Also, pray for me as I try to reach some of my family through this event. However, praise God that she was saved and is now in the arms of a loving Savior. What amazing grace!

Matt

The Nativity Story

Saturday night, my family and some other families from church went to see The Nativity Story. I have been wanting to see this movie for quite some time and since I had a bulletin insert promoting the movie (along with an exclusive behind-the-scenes dvd with trailer to show during morning worship), I thought I might need to see the film. And boy am I glad I did! The film was very, very good. The main thing that I had to bite my tongue on was about the wise men being at the manger scene. However, I overlooked this common tradition and looked at it from the bigger theme of the birth of Christ. This movie is different from the Passion of the Christ in that it is not as intense to begin with. In fact my wife looked at me and said, "It's not as majestic as I thought it would be." However, later in the movie, the majesty of Christ's birth came through in a glorious way. But she does have a point. The whole story of Christ's birth is not majestic. I mean the King of Kings, the Savior of the world, being born in a manger! Of course, at the same time, it is majestic in what it means. Now, back to the movie. It portrays Joseph and Mary, in my humble opinion, as normal, everyday people. I think the producer did a great job not creating a Mary of worship but a Mary of Israel.

Okay, for the rating. I give it 5 stars out of 5 stars. Yes, in fact, I told the congregation that they ALL needed to see it, and I encourage you to see it too. In fact, I am going to buy the movie when it comes out.

P.S. I wish I could watch this movie on Christmas Eve...whew, what an emotional ride that would be!