Canaan Baptist Church
1607 Monroe Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20010
Church Office
(202) 234-5330
Fax: (202) 332-7349
WE EXTEND A VERY SPECIAL WELCOME TO ALL OF GOD’S CHILDREN, AND WE PRAY THAT YOU WILL JOIN IN WITH US AS WE WORSHIP THE LORD IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH
Join us for Worship and Praise every Sunday.
"There's a sweet, sweet spirit in this place."
Join us for Worship and Praise every Sunday.
"There's a sweet, sweet spirit in this place."
Message of Hope - December 2013
“Then
sings my soul, my Savior, God to Thee…How Great thou art, how Great thou art!” (Carl
Boberg 1859-1940)
We praise God that another year is coming to a close and in spite of life’s changes, the good and the challenging, we are still in God’s favor on this side of heaven. I freely confess that God has been good to me; and, like the elders would say, “He’s been better to me than I’ve been to myself”. God is Great and He is Good!
The Christmas season is upon us and the commercialization of the holiday is in full swing. In fact, the ornaments of the Christmas holiday appeared this year before the Halloween costumes were put away. Even Christians have a tendency to put the true meaning of this holy day aside and succumb to the hype of the “most wonderful time of the year”. Yet even when we do our best to live according to God’s Word, bad stuff can still happen. While some are buying trees and gifts, there are millions of people, including God’s people, who are still out of work (thank God the “shutdown” is over!), contending with grief, going through divorce, experiencing health challenges with no health insurance, and other unexpected events. We pray for those affected by recent natural disasters, including tornados here and typhoons in other countries. (Is it me, or does it really seem like the worst kinds of disasters happen near the Christmas season?) Yet even in the most devastating situations God is still great and He is still good! He doesn’t change based on the circumstances that He allows to happen. People may have lost all their family members and their possessions, but God has not lost His greatness! There is no other God who can open a sea so people can walk through (Exodus 14), or place a rainbow in the sky after a 40-day storm (Gen.9:13), or give a faithful man who lost everything he owned “double for his trouble” (Job 42:10-16). Most of all, no other God could come through the womb of a Virgin into a sinful world to redeem the sinful men who would ultimately execute Him. But the greatness of His love would cause Him to defeat man’s greatest enemy and offer salvation even to those who hate Him! (John 3:16)
Like last year, I did not write the customary Message about a manger, or angels singing, or shepherds on the hillside watching sheep, although I do encourage you to read the accounts in St. Matthew, Chapters 1 and 2, and St. Luke Chapter 2 so that you keep “Christ in Christmas”. My desire is that you keep our Great God on the throne of your heart during this season and as this year comes to a close, consider all the things you have to be grateful for. I’m sure everything isn’t perfect in your life – it certainly isn’t in mine. But God is still good! That won’t ever change! I’m going to give you this final reminder as I stated a few months back. We always have three eternal reasons to give praise to our great God: 1. The Lord is GOOD! 2. His mercy is everlasting! 3. His truth endures to all generations. Lady LaWanda, ReNata and I pray that you will have a blessed Christmas and a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year as you,
Seek, Serve and Celebrate our GREAT Savior!
Rev. Larry Owens, Jr., M.Div., Senior Pastor
We praise God that another year is coming to a close and in spite of life’s changes, the good and the challenging, we are still in God’s favor on this side of heaven. I freely confess that God has been good to me; and, like the elders would say, “He’s been better to me than I’ve been to myself”. God is Great and He is Good!
The Christmas season is upon us and the commercialization of the holiday is in full swing. In fact, the ornaments of the Christmas holiday appeared this year before the Halloween costumes were put away. Even Christians have a tendency to put the true meaning of this holy day aside and succumb to the hype of the “most wonderful time of the year”. Yet even when we do our best to live according to God’s Word, bad stuff can still happen. While some are buying trees and gifts, there are millions of people, including God’s people, who are still out of work (thank God the “shutdown” is over!), contending with grief, going through divorce, experiencing health challenges with no health insurance, and other unexpected events. We pray for those affected by recent natural disasters, including tornados here and typhoons in other countries. (Is it me, or does it really seem like the worst kinds of disasters happen near the Christmas season?) Yet even in the most devastating situations God is still great and He is still good! He doesn’t change based on the circumstances that He allows to happen. People may have lost all their family members and their possessions, but God has not lost His greatness! There is no other God who can open a sea so people can walk through (Exodus 14), or place a rainbow in the sky after a 40-day storm (Gen.9:13), or give a faithful man who lost everything he owned “double for his trouble” (Job 42:10-16). Most of all, no other God could come through the womb of a Virgin into a sinful world to redeem the sinful men who would ultimately execute Him. But the greatness of His love would cause Him to defeat man’s greatest enemy and offer salvation even to those who hate Him! (John 3:16)
Like last year, I did not write the customary Message about a manger, or angels singing, or shepherds on the hillside watching sheep, although I do encourage you to read the accounts in St. Matthew, Chapters 1 and 2, and St. Luke Chapter 2 so that you keep “Christ in Christmas”. My desire is that you keep our Great God on the throne of your heart during this season and as this year comes to a close, consider all the things you have to be grateful for. I’m sure everything isn’t perfect in your life – it certainly isn’t in mine. But God is still good! That won’t ever change! I’m going to give you this final reminder as I stated a few months back. We always have three eternal reasons to give praise to our great God: 1. The Lord is GOOD! 2. His mercy is everlasting! 3. His truth endures to all generations. Lady LaWanda, ReNata and I pray that you will have a blessed Christmas and a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year as you,
Seek, Serve and Celebrate our GREAT Savior!
Rev. Larry Owens, Jr., M.Div., Senior Pastor
Be our guest: Worship with us!
Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
Canaan Baptist Church
1600 Newton Street, NW
Washington, DC
Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
Canaan Baptist Church
1600 Newton Street, NW
Washington, DC
