Rather than “making resolutions” about things we want to do, we are ‘resolving ourselves’ to certain realities over the next 3 weeks. Week 1: Since the Bible is the only word of God, we are resolved to know it!

Psalm 119:9-16 that we should resolve to:

-live according to the word
-seek God in the word
-memorize the word
-be taught the word
-declare the word
-delight in the word
-meditate on the word
-remember the word
 

I. Why We Should Resolve to Soak in God’s Word

1) There is something that the creator of the universe wants to tell us and wants us to understand about Him and ourselves. 

2) Leads Us to Salvation (2 Timothy 3:15–17)

3) Gives Us Wisdom & Understanding (Psalm 119: 98-100)

4) Keeps You on the Right Path  (Psalm 119: 101-102)

5) Shows us How to Live the Sweet Life (Psalm 119: 103-104)
II. Develop the Habit of Soaking in God’s Word

For most of us, this natural ritual of spending time with God-offering Him our everyday normal life is foreign. We have forgotten. Our hearts are beating after other stuff. “Lesser things that captured our affections have displaced the reality and centrality of God.” –David Crowder, Praise Habit.

1)READ

-Important to read leisurely and thoughtfully
-Read what? (Doesn’t matter as long as you are reading-don’t over complicate this! Get on a reading plan and remember to take baby steps… consistency is more important than length.
2)THINK 

-Try to figure out what the text is saying
-Spend some time meditating on what a particular passage is really talking about-turning it over in your mind, reflecting on it, soaking in it. (Like chewing a juicy stake…slow, savor it). Deeply consider its meaning)
-We must take the time to chew and re-chew scripture. Don’t just read it once and buzz on to the next mouthful. Take in the text. Consume it. Chew on it some more.
 

Martin Luther said,“I study my Bible like I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest may fall. Then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig. Then I look under every leaf. I search the Bible as a whole like shaking the whole tree. Then I shake every limb–study book after book. Then I shake every branch, giving attention to the chapters. Then I shake every twig, or a careful study of the paragraphs and sentences and words and their meanings.“
3)PRAY

-After you have read the text and spent time thinking, pray. (This kind of praying goes beyond merely asking for things…talking to God about it. Have a conversation with God…He wants to do that with you.)
The point in all of this is to focus more intentionally on God and what He’s communicating to you. Sometimes we forget that God has a personality and wants to engage us at a deeper level.
 

4) LIVE

-This is where these words begin to shape life. Jesus was the first one to become God’s word in the flesh. God’s word by its very nature changes us to make us like Christ.
If you read what God has written, think about it and pray through it, but don’t allow it to change you, you are missing the big picture!
 

James 1:22-25 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.”

When you live the Word…you truly live. Let this be a time that you come to savor and look forward to. Allow this to be a time in which God speaks to you and you actively seek Him.
 

III. Application

1) If you don’t have a Bible that you can understand, we will give you one. We want to give you a copy of the English Standard Version of the Bible.  That’s the version we preached from today, the one that Pastor J.D. preaches from most Sundays, and our staff believes it’s one of the most readable, literal translations there is.  It’s yours.  Just go get it.

2) Get on a reading plan (check out blog out this week for resources-JD’s sermon archive).

3) Begin to memorize it. (Remember what Jesus said when He was being tempted in the desert? “Man does not live on bread alone, but by every Word of God.”

My  desire is to see you develop a deep intimate relationship with God. I want you to enjoy spending time with God and enjoy spending time reading scripture.
RESOLVE TO SOAK IN GOD’S WORD!

Hey Summit, here are a few things we want to make sure you don’t miss! 

 Christmas Schedule  

Christmas Eve: Worship services will be at 5:00pm at the Brier Creek and Cole Mill Campuses.  The services will be kid friendly! Remember that this is a time when many are willing to go to church.  Be sure to invite a friend, neighbor or coworker!

Weekend of December 26/27: All worship gatherings will be held on Sunday December 27th with adjusted times.

-9:00 and 10:45 at the Brier Creek and Cole Mill Campuses

-9:45 at the West Club Campus

Christmas Missions Offering

Our goal for this year’s offering is $245,000. Thanks to your generosity, we’ve already taken in over $160,000!100% of this amount will be used in Gospel-advancing ways to meet our neighbors’ needs and bring the Good News of Jesus to our world. You can continue to give in any of the services for the month of December or online  at any time. For your gifts to be counted toward 2009 for tax purposes, make sure you give online or postmark your gift by December 31st. 

 Believe Project Update

The Summit community pledged $4.6 million in March 2009 to help position us to expand current facilities and launch future campuses.  Just last week we exceeded the $1million mark! Thank you for your generosity and your faithfulness!  If you missed the video from Pastor J.D. last weekend about this, you will definitely want to check that out. Still haven’t made your pledge to Believe? It’s not too late!

 Have a great Christmas and we’ll see you this weekend,

RD & the Cole Mill Staff

ONLY 11 days before Christmas! IF you are excited about Christmas and cannot wait for it to be here…then check out pastor JD’s latest Fortold Sermon (he has some good tips about curbing your enthusiasm)!

 Also for all of you parents who have SANTA questions check this out.

 The following was an article posted last year about St. Nicolas from Pastor Mark Driscoll…enjoy!

 Who was Saint Nick?

The larger-than-life myths surrounding Santa Claus actually emanate from the very real person of Saint Nicholas. It is difficult to know the exact details of his life with certainty, as the ancient records are sparse, but the various pieces can be put together as a mosaic of his life.

Nicholas was born in the third century in Patara, a village in what is now Turkey. He was born into an affluent family, but his parents died tragically when he was quite young. His parents had raised him to be a devout Christian, which led him to spend his great inheritance on helping the poor, especially children. He was known to frequently give gifts to children, sometimes even hanging socks filled with treats and gifts.

Perhaps his most famous act of kindness was helping three sisters. Because their family was too poor to pay for their wedding dowry, three young Christian women were facing a life of prostitution until Nicholas paid their dowry, thereby saving them from a horrible life of sexual slavery.
Nicholas grew to be a well-loved Christian leader and was eventually voted the Bishop of Myra, a port city that the apostle Paul had previously visited (Acts 27:5-6). Nicholas reportedly also traveled to the legendary Council of Nicea, where he helped defend the deity of Jesus Christ in AD 325.

Following his death on December 6, 343, he was canonized as a Saint. The anniversary of his death became the St. Nicholas holiday when gifts were given in his memory. He remained a very popular saint among Catholic and Orthodox Christians, with some 2,000 churches named after him. The holiday in his honor eventually merged with Christmas as they were celebrated within weeks of one another.

Reformation Controversy
During the Reformation, however, Nicholas fell out of favor with Protestants, who did not approve of canonizing certain people as saints and venerating them with holidays. His holiday was not celebrated in any Protestant country except Holland, where his legend as Sinterklass lived on. In Germany, Martin Luther replaced him with the Christ child as the object of holiday celebration, or, in German, Christkindl. Over time, the celebration of the Christ child was simply pronounced Kriss Kingle and oddly became just another name for Santa Claus.

Santa Myths
The legends about Santa Claus are most likely a compilation of other folklore. For example, there was a myth in Nicholas’ day that a demon was entering people’s homes to terrorize children and that Nicholas cast it out of a home. This myth may explain why it was eventually believed that he came down people’s chimneys.

Also, there was a Siberian myth (near the North Pole) that a holy man, or shaman, entered people’s homes through their chimneys to leave them mushrooms as gifts. According to the legend, he would hang them in front of the fire to dry. Reindeer would reportedly eat them and become intoxicated. This may have started the myth that the reindeer could fly, as it was believed that the shaman could also fly. This myth may have merged with the Santa Claus myth and if so, explains him traveling from the North Pole to come down the chimney and leave presents on the mantle over the fireplace before flying away with reindeer.

These stories of Santa Claus were first brought to America by Dutch immigrants. In the early 20th century, stores began having Santa Claus present for children during the Christmas season. Children also began sending letters to the North Pole as the legends surrounding an otherwise simple Christian man grew.

At the Summit Church, we keep the center of Christmas focused on Jesus; it’s probably what Nicholas would have wanted.

 MERRY CHRISTMAS!

RD

This post was authored by Curt Alan, the Summit’s Church Planting Pastor. Curt and his family recently returned stateside after serving on our church planting team in a Muslim context in Southeast Asia.
 
Well, another “Black Friday” has come and gone.
 
I have to admit that, this year, the whole kickoff to the Christmas shopping season surprised me more than usual. For the last 3 years, my family and I spent our Christmases in a dark place on the other side of the world – a place historically hostile to the Gospel. In that setting, Christmas wasn’t wrapped in any of the cultural traditions we’ve been numbed by…and it was beautiful.
 
Stripped of the decorations, the mad crush at the malls, and the obligatory gift giving, we focused on celebrating the only gift that really matters and that is truly priceless  – the Gospel.
 
In Isaiah 55, God provides a guarantee that can’t be matched by any merchant, mall, or vendor:
10 As the rain and the snow
       come down from heaven,
       and do not return to it
       without watering the earth
       and making it bud and flourish,
       so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
       It will not return to me empty,
       but will accomplish what I desire
       and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

As those that have already received this gift, we have the incredible privilege of joining the mission of God. For some, this may mean bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth, for others, it may mean bringing the Gospel to our own city…or to the office next door.

100% of the Summit’s Christmas Missions Offering will be used to bring the Gospel to places where it is desperately needed. What criteria are we, as followers of Christ, using to decide who does or doesn’t have the chance to hear about and receive the most extravagant gift ever given? Don’t let our response to “Black Friday” supersede our response to Good Friday.

As you pray through your response to the Christmas Missions Offering, please focus on giving the gift of the Gospel this year.

UNC vs. MSU…who cares!? You still have time to make the RIGHT decision.

Brier Creek Campus @ 7p. It’s ACC time! Come and here what God is doing and is getting ready to do…you don’t want to miss this!

DurhamCares needs interns and volunteers to fulfill a variety of roles this Spring and Summer.

The following is a guest post from Ben Tugwell, the lead pastor of our church plant in Greenville, NC. This is a great reminder of how God can use us as a campus to bless one another and our community, especially in light of the upcoming Christmas Missions Offering, 100% of which goes outside of the Summit to bless RDU and plant churches and bless cities around the world.

For the last several months our church has been studying through 1 Peter.  One of the themes of 1 Peter is suffering.  Peter continually reminds us that our only hope in suffering is to cling to the Gospel.

As we walked through 1 Peter, we discovered that many of our people were suffering and could, on some level, identify with the people whom Peter was writing to. As a result, we were ALL challenged to cling to the Gospel. This, in turn, led to other challenges, one of which was to bless others…even our enemies (1 Pt. 3:8-17). Because Peter was calling his church to be generous even in the midst of difficult trails, we decided we should show generosity to each other and to our city by being generous people.

In our church there was a married couple who had just lost their 10 month old little girl to complications from before childbirth.  The parents had frequently been in and out of the hospital caring for their child.  They spent a lot of time, money, and energy keeping their child healthy.  This became a huge financial strain on this family.  When the child passed away, our young, fledgling church decided we wanted to bless this family. We decided to take up a special offering to cover their mortgage.  Amazingly, because of the Gospel taking root in the hearts of our people, we were actually able to cover all of their mortgage IN ONE OFFERING. On top of that, our normal offering that day was even higher than usual.

We also started an initiative to show generosity to our community, which we called “bless the city”.  One Sunday morning we hid money underneath everyone’s chair – 1, 5, 10, or 20 dollar bills.  Attached to the money, everyone was given a card that read “bless the city”.  We challenged them to use the money to bless an individual in some way and use that sign of generosity as an opportunity to share the gospel.  The response was tremendous! Our people blessed co-workers, neighbors, family members, complete strangers, and even people they didn’t even like!   A lot of our people enjoyed the challenge so much, they continued to use their OWN money to be a blessing.

Through these challenges I have seen us become a more generous church and, as a result, a church that has a deeper love for the Gospel!  I am thankful that God calls us to generosity even in the midst of our difficult trials.

“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.” – 1 Peter 3:8-9

Ben Tugwell
www.liveintegritychurch.org

No, this post is not about our hunter-on-staff Jason Gaston.

Thank you so much for everyone who brought in a frozen bird on Sunday! We collected over 80 turkeys that we were able to give the Durham Rescue Mission! If you were unable to bring yours on Sunday, it is still not too late. However, the white pick up truck won’t be around so you will have to take it to the Durham Rescue Mission yourself.

As it’s been said around the Summit, “We’re here to transform it for God’s glory. Our love is not just talk. We don’t just give poor families a turkey on Thanksgiving and then flip them the bird the rest of the year.” Don’t forget to love your neighbors this Thanksgiving… HAPPY TURKEY WEEK!

RD

This weekend, at each of our campuses, after each service, we’ll be celebrating baptism.  If you’ve never been baptized by immersion since committing your life to Christ, this weekend is your time! 

It would be a big help if you could let us know you’re coming.  Fill out this form  and someone will contact you with more info!

From Pastor JD:

The Summit celebrates baptism several times throughout the year, and one of those is this coming weekend. We know baptism is a subject that is misunderstood by many and misinterpreted by some. So, let me give you a quick “theology of baptism,” then deal with some objections… and then, I hope if you have not been baptized as a profession of your faith after becoming a believer you will click the link below and get in this weekend. It’s time!

A Reader’s Digest Uber-Short Theology of Baptism

Baptism has a specific purpose.  As Scripture repeatedly notes, baptism is an outward symbol of an inward commitment. Romans 6:1-4 talks of baptism as a symbol of death to the old life and resurrection to the new.  Colossians 2:11-13 ties baptism to the Jewish practice of circumcision, which was the external markings of the new covenant. Nowhere in scripture do we find proof that baptism is an act of salvation, but rather a symbol of our salvation. Matthew 28:18-20 indicates that baptism is the first step of obedience as a believer.

Baptism has a specific order. If baptism is a symbol of salvation, then it makes sense that it should happen after salvation, and this is what we always see in Scripture. In the early church (see Acts 2:41, Acts 8:35-39, and Acts 16:30-33) people were consistently baptized immediately after their profession of faith. Both of those words are very important. After: Nowhere do we see someone being baptized as a baby prior to their personal decision to trust in Jesus Christ. This is not to denigrate your tradition if you did it that way (as I’ll explain below), just to point out what we see in the New Testament. Immediate: there was never a long delay between a profession of faith and the act of baptism.

Baptism has a specific method. Throughout the New Testament, the word for “baptize” is the Greek baptizo, which can only be translated one of three ways: to dip, to submerge, or to plunge.  (There are also two distinctive words for “pour” and “sprinkle” in the New Testament, but neither is used in conjunction with baptism.)  Incidentally, Christians started to baptize by sprinkling somewhere during the Middle Ages (Council of Revenna, 1311), originating in France… and we all know how we feel about stuff from France.

Whenever we see baptism in the New Testament, it is always by immersion (see, for example, Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, John 3:23, and Acts 8:35-39). As noted before, baptism pictures burial in Christ (Col 2:12). When someone is buried you don’t sprinkle dirt on their head, you put them under the ground.

Even John Calvin, the “father” of Presbyterianism, said in his Institutes, “It is evident the term ‘baptize’ means immerse and this was the form used by the early church.”

The point is Jesus was the one who commanded baptism, and modeled it by immersion, and I don’t feel like I’ve been given the right to edit it.

Playing “whack-a-mole” with your OBJECTIONS:

Objection! “But I’ve already been baptized… when I was a baby!”  We have many people at our church who were baptized somewhere else—some in Baptist churches, and some in churches of other denominations. But what if you were baptized before you came to Christ? What if you were sprinkled as an infant? Why do we say that you should be “baptized again” before joining the church?

We do not want in any way to denigrate a special and significant moment you experienced in another church tradition. But think of it this way: baptism is supposed to be the confession of your own faith, not your parents’ faith. You can appreciate what they were trying to do for you, but being baptized after you have decided to follow Jesus publicly ratifies their decision as your own. When your parents baptized you as a baby, they were hoping that one day you would come to make this decision on your own, and you have! So why not publicly ratify their decision for you by being baptized–this time not as a symbol of their faith but of yours! The sweetest thing about a wedding ring is that you choose to wear it as a symbol of your love. In the same way, baptism is to be a symbol of your faith.

Objection! “But I’m already a sincere follower of Jesus… why do I need to go through this ritual?” I can understand this objection, but let’s just put the question in perspective: Jesus commanded baptism very clearly as our first act of obedience to His Lordship (Matthew 28:18-20). It is not up to us to decide which commands are important and which are not. Think of it this way: if you will not even follow Jesus in this most simple act of obedience, can you really say you’ve come to terms with His Lordship?

Objection! “I’m not sure I’m ready, or that I understand enough.” Well, A) you don’t have to be a seminary-trained theologian to be baptized, only that you believe Jesus has saved you. When Peter preached his first sermon, 3000 brand new believers were baptized on the spot. They went from not believing in Jesus to being passionate, baptized followers within the space of a few minutes in Acts 2. B) we will have a team of counselors who will talk with you for a few minutes and make sure you understand. If you need more time to process, we’ll be happy to wait until you’re ready. This is an important step and we won’t want, at all, to rush it.

Objection! “But I’ll feel weird getting wet in front of strangers.” Your whole life God is going to ask you to do uncomfortable things where you have to trust Him. So, this is a great place to start! And we’re not strangers, we’re family in Christ.

Objection! “But I don’t want to waste water.” Now you’re just making stuff up.

Come this week and let us baptize you. For many of you, it’s high time to go under . Click here for details or to let us know you’re interested! The Summit celebrates baptism several times throughout the year, and one of those is this coming weekend. We know baptism is a subject that is misunderstood by many and misinterpreted by some. So, let me give you a quick “theology of baptism,” then deal with some objections… and then, I hope if you have not been baptized as a profession of your faith after becoming a believer you will click the link below and get in this weekend. It’s time!

A Reader’s Digest Uber-Short Theology of Baptism

Baptism has a specific purpose.  As Scripture repeatedly notes, baptism is an outward symbol of an inward commitment. Romans 6:1-4 talks of baptism as a symbol of death to the old life and resurrection to the new.  Colossians 2:11-13 ties baptism to the Jewish practice of circumcision, which was the external markings of the new covenant. Nowhere in scripture do we find proof that baptism is an act of salvation, but rather a symbol of our salvation. Matthew 28:18-20 indicates that baptism is the first step of obedience as a believer.

Baptism has a specific order. If baptism is a symbol of salvation, then it makes sense that it should happen after salvation, and this is what we always see in Scripture. In the early church (see Acts 2:41, Acts 8:35-39, and Acts 16:30-33) people were consistently baptized immediately after their profession of faith. Both of those words are very important. After: Nowhere do we see someone being baptized as a baby prior to their personal decision to trust in Jesus Christ. This is not to denigrate your tradition if you did it that way (as I’ll explain below), just to point out what we see in the New Testament. Immediate: there was never a long delay between a profession of faith and the act of baptism.

Baptism has a specific method. Throughout the New Testament, the word for “baptize” is the Greek baptizo, which can only be translated one of three ways: to dip, to submerge, or to plunge.  (There are also two distinctive words for “pour” and “sprinkle” in the New Testament, but neither is used in conjunction with baptism.)  Incidentally, Christians started to baptize by sprinkling somewhere during the Middle Ages (Council of Revenna, 1311), originating in France… and we all know how we feel about stuff from France.

Whenever we see baptism in the New Testament, it is always by immersion (see, for example, Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, John 3:23, and Acts 8:35-39). As noted before, baptism pictures burial in Christ (Col 2:12). When someone is buried you don’t sprinkle dirt on their head, you put them under the ground.

Even John Calvin, the “father” of Presbyterianism, said in his Institutes, “It is evident the term ‘baptize’ means immerse and this was the form used by the early church.”

The point is Jesus was the one who commanded baptism, and modeled it by immersion, and I don’t feel like I’ve been given the right to edit it.

Playing “whack-a-mole” with your OBJECTIONS:

Objection! “But I’ve already been baptized… when I was a baby!”  We have many people at our church who were baptized somewhere else—some in Baptist churches, and some in churches of other denominations. But what if you were baptized before you came to Christ? What if you were sprinkled as an infant? Why do we say that you should be “baptized again” before joining the church?

We do not want in any way to denigrate a special and significant moment you experienced in another church tradition. But think of it this way: baptism is supposed to be the confession of your own faith, not your parents’ faith. You can appreciate what they were trying to do for you, but being baptized after you have decided to follow Jesus publicly ratifies their decision as your own. When your parents baptized you as a baby, they were hoping that one day you would come to make this decision on your own, and you have! So why not publicly ratify their decision for you by being baptized–this time not as a symbol of their faith but of yours! The sweetest thing about a wedding ring is that you choose to wear it as a symbol of your love. In the same way, baptism is to be a symbol of your faith.

Objection! “But I’m already a sincere follower of Jesus… why do I need to go through this ritual?” I can understand this objection, but let’s just put the question in perspective: Jesus commanded baptism very clearly as our first act of obedience to His Lordship (Matthew 28:18-20). It is not up to us to decide which commands are important and which are not. Think of it this way: if you will not even follow Jesus in this most simple act of obedience, can you really say you’ve come to terms with His Lordship?

Objection! “I’m not sure I’m ready, or that I understand enough.” Well, A) you don’t have to be a seminary-trained theologian to be baptized, only that you believe Jesus has saved you. When Peter preached his first sermon, 3000 brand new believers were baptized on the spot. They went from not believing in Jesus to being passionate, baptized followers within the space of a few minutes in Acts 2. B) we will have a team of counselors who will talk with you for a few minutes and make sure you understand. If you need more time to process, we’ll be happy to wait until you’re ready. This is an important step and we won’t want, at all, to rush it.

Objection! “But I’ll feel weird getting wet in front of strangers.” Your whole life God is going to ask you to do uncomfortable things where you have to trust Him. So, this is a great place to start! And we’re not strangers, we’re family in Christ.

Objection! “But I don’t want to waste water.” Now you’re just making stuff up.

Come this week and let us baptize you. For many of you, it’s high time to go under . Click here for details or to let us know you’re interested!

On Sunday all of our Campus Pastors had the oppurunity to preach on Persistant Prayer from Luke 18:1-8. Check out our SummitRDU blog for additional prayer resources here.