Libertyville Covenant Church has been invited to participate in a “Sticky Faith” learning cohort.  “Sticky Faith” is a research based initiative out of Fuller seminary that is designed to address the nation wide exodus of young adults from the church and their faith.  Our young people today are wrestling with the place of faith and the church in their lives as they engage a increasingly secular culture.  The heart of this movement is to help churches thinking more intergenerationally and develop church wide strategies for the faith development of your young people.   The following is a short summary of “Sticky Faith” and the essential elements of this movement!

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Advent and Christmas plans are well underway here and we hope you will be able to participate in many of the opportunities for worship, fellowship, and service during this season. During December, if you plan to bake and would like to bring in some Christmas Cookies or other goodies to share during coffee hour and/or the Adopt-a-Family Party, please bring them to the office any time and we will see that they are used (or frozen for use) during December. Some dates to remember include:

DATES TO REMEMBER:

December 2 1st Sunday of Advent 5 p.m. Family Advent Night

December 6 Fireside Dinner Fellowship Smorgasbord at 6 p.m.

December 8 Progressive Dinner 6 p.m. Beginning with appetizers at the home of Scott & Teresa Anderson

December 9 2nd Sunday of Advent 8:30 & 11 a.m. Choir Concert “Holy Light”

December 15 Adopt a Family Christmas Party 12 -2 p.m.

December 16 3rd Sunday of Advent 11 a.m. Children’s Program

December 23 4th Sunday of Advent 10 a.m. Service Only

December 24 Christmas Eve Services at 4 p.m. & 10 p.m.

December 30 10 a.m. Service Only

 

Below are links to a couple of sign up opportunities. Click on the link and complete the forms. You also will have the opportunity to sign up at church for additional things like “Adopt a Family” gifts and/or party, Family Advent Night, FDF Smorgasbord, etc.

 

PROGRESSIVE DINNER (Saturday, December 8) SIGN UP:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHFqcWQ4UXlDQ1IycVJBRW43bFdFVnc6MQ#gid=0

 

POINSETTIA ($8/plant) REQUEST FORM:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEZCQUIyWlBxQlFlbERpUUFTYnRJbkE6MQ#gid=0

II Thessalonians 1:3-11 (click to display NIV text)
November 25, 2012 (Christ the King Sunday)
Pastor Dwight A. Nelson

“God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.”

II Thessalonians begins in the same way as the first letter, giving thanks for a church that is faithful to the Lord, even during times of persecution. They are people of faith, hope and love. Now we learn that not only are they standing firm, but their faith is growing and their love increasing. Paul is confident that they will be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God. He is also aware of their suffering. He assures them that God is just, so there will be a time when things are set right. Those who trouble God’s people will be punished and those who are troubled will find relief. They will experience the presence and the glory of the Lord.

The judgment of God displays the justice of God. An essential part of the Christian faith is the firm conviction that God is just. In contrast to the gods of the Greeks and Romans, who were vindictive, jealous, vengeful and thoroughly immoral, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is just, righteous, holy and fully and consistently committed to the fulfillment of his will for the creation.

Mary expressed her confidence in the justice of God. Just before Jesus was put to death, the great injustice that revealed the justice of God, Mary anointed Jesus with a costly perfume, a costly gift that showed her faith that even in the cross, God would vindicate his son, God would show his justice. In the justice of God such a gift is affirmed, it is recognized as one part of God’s plan that points to the cross and to the resurrection. Mary, knowing God’s justice, acted in faith to offer a costly gift to the Lord.

The justice of God comes to us as grace and mercy. But to those who oppose God, it comes as judgment: in the justice of God all secrets are laid bare, all attitudes are revealed, all hostility to God is exposed. Read more

I Thessalonians 1:1-10 (click to display NIV text)
November 18, 2012
Pastor Dwight A. Nelson

“We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Gladdie Greenfield was the first one to catch it. The menu board on Pancake Night last Wednesday said, “Dinner for Breakfast.” It is a phrase that came from a children’s book we used to read, “The Man who Wanted to Save Time.” It told of a man who was always late in the morning, so he tried to save time by eating breakfast before he went to bed. But then in the morning he was hungry, so he had lunch. Then at noon he had dinner, and so forth. He never saved any time, but he ended up having “dinner for breakfast.”

So when I wrote out the menu board last week, I wrote, “Dinner for Breakfast.””Then I waited to see if anyone would catch it. But no one did; at least no one said anything, perhaps because they were too polite, or because they were not paying attention, or maybe it looked normal to them. Maybe they did not stop to read it. But Gladdie did, and she knew right away it was wrong, it was mixed up, it was backwards. I do know someone who enjoys a piece of cold pizza for breakfast, but mostly we do not like to have dinner for breakfast; that is mixed up for us.

The Thessalonian church was one that did not get their words mixed up when they came to faith in Christ. They caught a lived faith from Paul. So they both understood the Gospel and they lived it fully with faith, hope and love. Read more

Colossians 3:1-17 (click to display NIV text)
November 11, 2012
Pastor Dwight A. Nelson

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

Why does Paul write about the quiet virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience? I am aware that our culture does not really promote these virtues, that the culture is more interested in aggressive, goal oriented people hurrying on to their full potential. But we see enduring value in the quiet virtues, and sometimes that makes us seem out of step with the life that whizzes by us.

Did these virtues speak to Paul’s personal experience? I think so. I think Paul really discovered them after his conversion. Prior to Paul’s conversion in Christ, he placed zeal as the highest quality in life. The most important thing in life was to serve God with all one’s strength, and that meant the willingness to be violent if needed. It meant a willingness to persecute people so they would see the error of their ways. It meant the willingness to put Christians in jail or to see them stoned. After Paul’s conversion, he replaced zeal with love as the highest priority. In I Corinthians 13 Paul calls love “the most excellent way.” He still served with zeal. He still gave his energy, his best thinking and his full attention to his task as an apostle to the Gentiles. But now love always had priority over zeal. Because of that, the quiet virtues of compassion, kindness, gentleness, humility and patience came into his life in a much deeper and fuller way. If love is to be the highest priority, then these are necessary in one’s personal life. Read more