Here you will find the news of events, inside and outside of the church. Articles, opinions, testimonies, and other interesting tidbits to inspire and amuse.

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Up from the grave He arose;

with a mighty triumph o'er His foes;

He arose a victor from the dark domain,

and He lives forever, with His saints to reign.

He areose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

These are familiar words to a powerful Easter season hymn that will be sung at many churches this coming Easter. It proclaims the foundation of Christianity - Christ arose! He conquered death, the final enemy. Not even death could keep Jesus down. It's on authority of His resurrection that we can be assured that all He taught is true.

Many doubt the resurrection. Let's take a look at the circumstances surrounding the resurrection:

History has never disproven He was crucified. Crucifixion was a brutal execution method employed by the Romans. Jesus was crucified after being scourged to near death, dragging His cross, and being nailed to a cross. The nails were not the typical 10-penny nails we see at Home Depot. They were spikes. He hung on the cross for 6 hours, was speared in the side, and died.
He was buried in a borrowed tomb. The tomb was much like a small cave and had a large stone rolled in front of it. The Romans also posted a couple of guards in front of the tomb. Given the hostile climate of the time, The Romans were not going to take any chances that the body would be taken!
Women were the first to see the empty tomb. In those days, women did not enjoy any sort of status among the mend in the world. Marriages were arranged, women were essentially servants to their husbands - meant to be seen and not heard. Men ruled the day. It took these couple of women to share the Good News!
His followers saw Him, ate with Him, and watched Him ascend.

Some say Jesus wasn't dead when He was laid in the tomb. This they say after He was beaten, crucified, and spears in the side. And after that, He got up three days later, rolled a large stone, subdued two Roman guards, and went out without any signs of beatings or crucifixion. Not very likely, right?

Some say His followers made it up. That would mean that men who scattered during His trial mustered up the courage to make up a story that would get them killed. What are the chances that many people would agree to that sort of plan? Not very likely, right?

Some say the women discovered the wrong tomb. Wouldn't the guards have pointed that out? They also were in danger of being killed if they didn't guard the right tomb. Not very likely, Right?

There are many, many other attempts to refute His resurrection, but if one takes a look at the conditions surrounding His crucifixion, the tensions between Rome and the Jews, the culture, etc., you can only deduce that it had to happen. Based on that alone, we could conclude that He is who He said He is. Add to that the miracles, signs, and wonders He performed to also declare who He is.

And that is what our hope is based on. Our assurance that we will follow Him in resurrection. As the hymn says,

Hallelujah, Christ arose!

I recently downloaded new apps to "test drive" for future reviews. I was quite excited, but I'm finding that discretion is a virtue! Checking websites for an app's parent organizations beliefs (as well as looking at apps' ratings for reports of unresolved glitches) is a smart thing to do. There are religious' wolves in sheep's clothing' apps, which will no doubt pop up based on your search history. The search is deifnitely worth it, but please be careful, and ask for help if you need it.

Pre-COVID, several of us from CCC visited Cape Cod when Pastor Chuck Schleich invited us to an excellent Songtime Conference on discipleship. One of the speakers was Donald S. Whitney, author of Praying the Bible, et al. Many Christians know they ought to pray, but do not because:

We are afraid to do it wrong
We become bored as we pray the same things over and over.

Dr. Whitney is an enthusiastic proponent of using the Bible, particularly the Psalms, to jump start one's prayers. As an exercise, he had the entire crowd pray through the same Psalm individually, in writing. Several people read their resultant prayers aloud. All the prayers were different, and most people felt their prayers had more strength and focus. He suggested a scheduled o5 Psalms per day (based on the day of the month, plus 30, plus 30 gain, again, and again) and challenged us to find a day when at least one of the 5 Psalms scheduled doesn't speak to our current prayer needs.

A young friend of Dr. Whitney's created an app to make findings these 5 daily Psalms simply and easy. Open the 5 Psalms app, and the first Psalm for that day pops up; just swipe from right to left to see the next one. There are 5 English Bible translations and one Spanish one, as well as font, font size, and just a few other variables which can be changed in the settings. This app does one simple thing well. When stress and too many choices overwhelm and make one hesitate to open the entire Bible, this app narrows it down, and makes it easy to pray meaningfully and creatively using God's own words.

5 Psalms is available for free on both iTunes and Google Play. The icon is a royal blue hand with white Hebrew lettering on the palm. For more information, click here.

YouTube videos of Dr. Whitney explaining Praying the Word.

Christ Community Newsletter

Welcome to Christ Community Church Newsletter

Hallelujah, Christ arose!

The Elders' Corner

RECAP

Easter Flower Signup

RECURRING EVENTS

MONTHLY PRAYER BREAKFAST

COFFEE VOLUNTEERS

ADULT BIBLE STUDY

HEALING PRAYER MEETING

SERMON DISCUSSION GROUP

WOMEN'S BIBLE STUDY

MEN'S DINNER FELLOWSHIP

GIRLS' NIGHT OUT

Thursday, May 5

Canton Food Bank Needs

CERT PRESENTATION

GOT APPS?