Pastor Ricky Powell

We had over 1,000 people attend our Christmas Eve services at Fort Caroline Baptist Church. Merry Christmas to all! (Thanks Mark for taking a photo with your phone!)

Christmas Eve Services At Fort Caroline Baptist Church

 

I hope you and your family will join me on Christmas Eve for one of three Candlelight services. The service times are 4:00 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 6:30 p.m. No childcare is offered for the services. The church is located at 11428 McCormick Road, Jacksonville, FL 32225.

Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS SACRED...CHRIST MASSACRED

Did you know that the letters in the words "Christmas Sacred" can be arranged to spell "Christ Massacred"? It is a reminder that the baby born on that first Christmas morning eventually died as a man upon the cross of Calvary. Christmas loses its meaning without the cross of Christ. The cradle gave way to the cross. Men murdered their maker. Creatures crucified their creator. But Jesus did not go to the cross as a victim. He went as a volunteer. He willingly gave His life as payment for our sins. "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21).

Here is a sermon I preached a few years ago on the subject of Christmas Sacred...Christ Massacred. I pray that it reminds you of the real reason for the season. Merry Christmas!

Download Christmas Sacred Christ Massacred

 

 

The Social Network Christmas

The Social Network - Christmas from New Community Church on Vimeo.

Christmas Problems (video sermon)

The Family Tree

The Message of the Cross

Since 1998 black billboards with white letters have appeared on roadways all across America. These billboards have captured the attention of millions of people. Hundreds of news articles and broadcasts have been devoted to spreading the word about the billboards. Much of the intrigue was because the person behind the billboards wanted to remain anonymous. This person did not want the attention to be focused on him. He or she wanted the attention to be on someone much higher and more important: God. The billboards purport to display a message from God. I am sure most of you have seen one or more of these billboards so allow me to remind you of several of the messages. One reads, "Let's meet at My house Sunday before the game." Another issues an invitation to, "C'mon over and bring the kids." One that always makes me chuckle asks, "What part of 'Thou shalt not…' didn't you understand?" And my all-time favorite: "Keep using My name in vain and I'll make rush hour longer."

These billboards are fiction. They are not really messages from God, but they sure make you think about God even if it is just for a moment as you sit in traffic. Did you know that God has erected a far more powerful billboard than these? The billboard I am speaking of was erected for the entire world to see over 2000 years ago outside the city walls of Jerusalem on a windswept hill called Golgotha. The message was a man, the Son of God, Christ Jesus. The cross where Jesus died is a message from God's heart to us. God does not remain anonymous. God is speaking to you today through what He did on the cross of Jesus Christ. God wants to speak to you the message of the cross. I have been reading a book by John R. W. Stott entitled, "The Cross of Christ." In it Stott writes, "Just as human beings disclose their character in their actions, so God has showed himself to us in the death of his son" (p. 204).

The Cross Displays The Love of God

    Once when I was young I watched my sister pluck a yellow flower from our flower bed. She held the flower in one hand and began plucking the petals one by one with the other. I will never forget what she said as she plucked each petal. "He loves me; he loves me not." Evidently she was trying to divine the intents and interests of a boy in her class. She wanted to know if he loved her like she loved him. Somehow she always seemed to pluck the last petal as it ended on the phrase, "He loves me." If I did not know better I would say she rigged the results! Well, I have good news for you if you have ever wondered if God loves you. You don't have to rig it! He loves you and He has demonstrated His love on the cross. The Apostle Paul wrote, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8, [NKJV]). John Stott wrote, "Because we were sinners, we deserved to die under the righteous anger of God. But God sent his only Son, and in sending him came himself, to die that death and bear that wrath instead of us. It was an act of sheer, pure, unmerited love" (p. 213). Jesus Himself declared:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16-18 [NKJV]).

God does not merely declare His love. He demonstrates it on the cross. His love is not a sappy, sentimental love. It is a love borne out of His holiness that willingly sacrifices for the good of another. If you die and go to Hell it will not be because God hates you. It will be in spite of his great love for you because you rejected His Son.

Rediscovering the Resurrection