Good morning Hampton Christian Church Family!

What began as a 2-week interlude in our church gatherings has grown into 10 weeks of not gathering in our facility. This experience has been a roller coaster of uncertainty and contradictions, not to mention increased anxiety and interrupted work schedules for many.

I am happy to share with you that our separation is coming to an end.

For starters, on Sunday, May 31, we will observe Pentecost Sunday with a drive-in service to be held in our new parking area in back of the church building.  The service will begin at our regular scheduled time of 10:45AM.  Parking attendants will be on hand to help you find a suitable parking place.  You will enjoy a complete worship service in music, message and communion.  I am so looking forward to our getting together in this creative and meaningful way!

On Sunday, June 7, beginning at 10:45AM, we will resume regular Sunday worship services in our sanctuary.  Sunday School will not be open at this time and families are encouraged to set together in the Sanctuary.  Careful caution with an appreciation for our safety and peace of mind will be utilized as we will accommodate social distancing guidelines within the building. A station containing masks and hand sanitizers will be available for your convenience to use at your discretion. Communion will be served in a manner that will respect social distancing guidelines.  We respect your personal choices whether or whether not to attend and participate in our reopening of the church facility. Please know that we are taking precautions and necessary preparations to insure a safe and meaningful environment for our gathering.

I am greatly looking forward to a reunion of our church family!

I continue to love you and pray for you all. Please remember that our God is an awesome God!

Hope to see you soon!

 

Wednesday May 13, 2020

 Message from Pastor David

 

Good morning HCC family and friends! My message to you this morning is an encouragement to read and consider these precious promises from God to you.

 

From God’s Heart to Yours. . .If you will believe and receive. . .

 

God loves you. . .As a Father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who look to Him.

 

My child, you may not know me, but I know everything about you  Psalm 139:1  I know when you sit down and when you rise up. . .Psalm 139:2

 

I am familiar with all yours ways. . .Psalm 139:3  For you were made in my image. . .Genesis 1:27

 

I knew you even before you were conceived. . .Jeremiah 1:4-5

 

I chose you when I planned creation. . .Ephesians 1:11-12  You were not a mistake. . .Psalm 139:15-16

 

For all your days are written in my book. . .Psalm 139:15-16            I determined the exact time of your birth, and where you would live. . .   Acts 17:26

 

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. . .Psalm 139:14  I knit you together, in your mother’s womb. . .Psalm 139:13  And brought your forth on the day you were born. . .Psalm 71:6

 

I have been misrepresented by those who do not know me. . .John 8:41-44  I am not distant and angry. . .but am the complete expression of love. . . I John 4:16

 

It is my desire to lavish my love upon you. . .I John 3:1  Simply because you are my child. . .I John 3:1

 

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could. . .Matthew 17:11  For I am the perfect father. . .Matthew 5:48

 

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. . .James 1:17

 

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. . .Jeremiah 29:11 Because I love you with an everlasting love. . .Jeremiah 31:3  For you are my treasured possession. . .Exodus 19:5

 

I desire to establish you with all my heart. . .Jeremiah 32:41

 

If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. . .Deut. 4:29

 

Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. . .Psalm 37:4  For it was I who gave you those desires. . .Philippians 2:13

 

I am able to do for you more than you could possibly imagine. . .Eph.3:20  For I am your greatest encourager. . .2 Thess. 2:16-17

 

I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles. . .2 Cor. 1:3-4  When you are broken-hearted, I am close to you. . .Psalm 34:18

 

One day, I will wipe away every tear from your eye. . .Rev.21:3-4  And I will take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth. . .Rev.21:3-4

 

I am your Father. I love you even as I love my Son, Jesus. . .John 17:23  For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed. . .John 17:26  Jesus is the exact representation of my being. . .Hebrews 1:3

 

He came to demonstrate that I am for you and not against you. . . Romans 8:31  And to tell you that I am not counting your sins. . .2 Cor.5:18-19 

 

Jesus died that you could be reconciled. . . 2 Cor.5:18-019  His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you. . .I John 4:10

 

I gave up everything I loved so that I might gain your love. . .Romans 8:32

 

If you receive the gift of my Son Jesus, you receive me. . .I John 2:23  And nothing will ever separate you from my love again. . .Romans 8:38-39

 

Come home and I’ll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen. . .        Luke 15:7

 

Wonderful scriptures, no? All from the heart of a Loving Father to you, his child.  I pray for your week to truly be blessed of God and that your hearts and minds will be filled with His goodness and grace!

 

Have a blessed week!

Pastor David

 

 
 
 
Wednesday Communication from Pastor David
 
Good Morning Hampton Christian Church Family and Friends!
 
What a beautiful Wednesday morning this is! Sitting here in my office I hear the drone of lawn mowers and other Spring outdoor activities!  I am looking forward to working in the yard as the weather warms and dries up a bit!
 
I am so looking forward to a grand reunion of our church family!  In the next few days, we should gain some clarity on how the commonwealth chooses to reopen.  Meanwhile, we are resuming our board meetings and some auxiliary ministries within the church. We will exercise social distancing guidelines in conducting these meetings. Other projects within our church facility will continue to progress during this time.
 
Our Susan Morris Prayer Chapel is almost complete and beautiful!  New carpet and freshly painted walls complement a stunning stained-glass window display, designed and created by Chris Moody. The theme of this work of art is taken from the Psalm 1 imagery, “Like a tree planted by streams of water.” I am amazed as I gaze at its beauty and am excited for all of us to experience prayer and study in this exceptional location.
 
Our Hope Cometh fellowship room has been beautifully enlarged and furnished, and now awaits our gathering together! 
 
We are soon to begin a rear parking-lot expansion and improvement project!  This project will provide for additional parking as well as a better and safer church-grounds condition. Hats off to our property chairman and church board for their care and over-sight of our church property!
 
We continue to develop and improve our capabilities to live-stream our services, ministries and announcements, via our Facebook Site and our New Webpage, hamptonchristianchurchdoc.com
 
This Sunday, April 3, we will conduct another Drive-Through Communion Service beginning at 10:45am through Noon. More communion kits will be available as needed. I’m looking forward to seeing you there!  In addition, special music and the Sunday message will be available to view via our Facebook Page and our Website.
 
May your day be blessed! If you have any questions or needs, please contact your Care-Elders or call the Church office at 723-8563. You can also reach me anytime at 528-7214.
 

You are loved!  

Pastor David

 
 
 

 

Isaiah 53

Can you Identify with God?

About the Lord Jesus.

            “He grew up as a tender shoot in the Lord’s presence. Nothing was beautiful or majestic about his appearance. There was nothing to attract us to him.”  Most of us are not models of exceptional human good looks. Have you ever felt unattractive or plain?

            “He was despised and rejected by people.”  Have you experienced rejection or the loathing of others?

            “He was a man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief.”  Have you noticed that we tend to choose isolation and aloneness during times of deep sorrow and grief? Can deep sorrow and grief affect our interactions with others as superfluous and inept?

The scripture goes on to speak of us…

            “We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.”   Could it be that our collective personal sorrows and sense of rejection creates a callousness towards others and even towards God?

            “We have all gone astray. We left God’s paths to follow our own paths.”  The sense of rejection, isolation and woundedness leads to resentment, anger, and rebelliousness. These negative emotions can cause us to become stiff-necked, unyielding, self-centered, and willful. Have you ever heard the expression you would cut off your nose to spite your face? It is hard to listen when we are in such a state.

And yet…

            It was our weakness that He carried. It was our sorrows that weighed Him down. He was pierced for our rebellion. He was crushed for our sin. He was beaten so that we could be whole. In fact, the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.

            Think of it…Because of the work of God through the suffering of Jesus, our sorrow is identified with and understood, our rebellious nature is confronted and pacified, our brokenness is being transformed into wholeness, our sickness is being healed, and our death is being swallowed up in to life!

All of us can identify with the difficulties and pain of simply being…Have we come to the place where we can really see Him and even listen to Him? Are we too caught up in our pain, disappointment, and survival instincts, to even pay attention to what He has said…what He has done for us? Have you believed His message to you? Have you identified with God, through the Lord, Jesus Christ? Therein is our hope and our help. He has made all the difference in your present world and your world yet to come. I pray you choose to identify with God through Jesus this day and every day!     Lovingly, Pastor David

 

Handling Fear

18 Apr 2020
 
Let’s be honest, events are unfolding around us that are unprecedented.
 
Many of our daily habits we have taken for granted, are now curtailed or suspended. For the most part, the whole world has come to a stand-still, as governments and medical authorities deal with a potentially lethal and little understood viral infection called Covid-19. We now enter a fifth week of a stay-at-home order that has restrained and possibly damaged our otherwise healthy and growing economy. Many livelihoods are in jeopardy and some of us wonder if the cure may be more damaging than the virus. These days of uncertainty can increase anxiety, insecurity and fear among all of us.
 
Fear is a basic and common human emotion. Healthy fear motivates us to exercise caution, wisdom and avoidance of perceived danger, thereby avoiding or preventing unnecessary and unwanted harm in our lives and of those whom we love. Healthy fear is pro-active and cooperative in working with others to do the right and appropriate thing.
 

Fear can also be a negative motivator. Unhealthy fear can cause us to be reactive, negative and uncooperative in working together for our own good. Ask any lifeguard that has saved a drowning swimmer. Fear can be detrimental, counter-productive and destructive; therefore, it must be dealt with in each of our lives.

 

God’s word recognizes that fear is a human reality. It is interesting that the Bible encourages us to fear not, 365 times. If you think about it, that’s a fear not for each day of the year. It is not so much what is happening that alarms us and causes us to react, as it is what we tell ourselves about what is happening. Our perspective in life governs our reactions to life.

 

As believers and children of the living God, we need to consider that He has the whole world in his hands…like the song we like to sing. Our Father, is in control of all things, all of the time. If you are like me, you remember times of pain and fear, when someone who loved you, was there for you, to intercede and make a real difference in the circumstance. It is our Father that says, Fear not, for I am with you; even when you walk through the waters or the fire. I love the song from the musical Carousel entitled, “You Never Walk Alone”

 

Friends, as children of the Living God, we never walk alone. That means we can hold our head up high without fear or doubt, because He walks with us. God encourages us to be anxious for nothing. Wow, there’s a challenge! The scripture goes on to give us an alternative response…Cast your cares upon Him for He cares for you! Trust in the Lord, with all your heart, and don’t lean so heavily on your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.

 

I love the Psalm that attests, “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear not, for You are with me.” Yes, friends, while fear is a reality in our lives, we can choose to maintain faith in God through Jesus Christ, who has overcome this world in all of its dangers and threats. I pray for our continued courage and peace of mind as we move forward in faith through these uncertain days!

 

May the Lord be with you and cause His countenance to be upon you and grant you His peace.

 

Amen.

Pastor David

 
 
Happy Wednesday Morning HCC Family and Friends!

 

I hope all is well with you today!

 

I am wondering if you are doing anything different during this extended stay at home experience! What kinds of things are you doing differently?

 

I am spending more time outside working in the yard, landscaping and planting flowers. I also chose this time to build a garden shed from the ground up. Kind of fun, even though I don’t move as well as I used to. I remember years ago, watching my Dad work slowly and deliberately as he grew older, and now I am my Dad! Linda is catching up on housework and enjoying cooking new and different foods to enjoy. The house has become even more organized and clean. I hate to dirty it up but, oh well. Linda also goes to bed each night with tears of delight as she continues to beat me mercilessly in card games!

 

Is there anything you have learned during this stay at home experience? I would love for you to share it with me on this post or by phone or text. I am sure things are not the same for all of us and that change brings learning experiences. What have you experienced that is new or unusual through this ordeal?

From a biblical perspective, times like this provide the opportunity to prepare for something. Preparing for life experiences is a good and healthy discipline. What kinds of preparedness might we invest ourselves in? Planting a vegetable garden can provide a fulfilling activity as well as food on the table. Catching up on our reading expands our knowledge and imagination. Spending more time together, either in person or reaching out to friends and family by phone, letter or text, brings us closer and reminds us that we are not alone.

 

I encourage you to spend extra time reading your Bible and devotional materials, and to share your faith and words of encouragement with one another. God made us to be a community, a family. Let’s keep the family ties growing even stronger as we walk together through this journey!

 

Be of good cheer! Pastor David

 

P.S. Be sure to tune into our HCC Facebook page this Sunday morning as we worship God together. The service will begin at 10:45AM!

 
 
Easter Message from Pastor David
 
He is risen! He’s alive!
 
Hear the bells ringing, they’re singing, “Christ is risen from the dead!”
 
Hear the bells ringing, they’re singing, “You can be born again!”
 
Our hearts and voices sing this glorious new song today! Salvation has come to all people!
 
God has completed His great work of redemption through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior!
 
Today is truly a new day in Christ!
 
Beginning at 10:45 this morning, we will hold another drive-through communion service at the church, located at 151 E. Mercury in Hampton.
 
If you are unable to attend, special music and a live Resurrection Day message will be presented this morning at 10:15am on our Hampton Christian Church Facebook page.
 
You are invited to join with me today in worship at our drive-through communion service or on our Hampton Christian Church Facebook page and our new website: hamptonchristianchurchdoc.com
 
Have a blessed Easter celebration and remember, “Christ Lives!”
 

Pastor David

 
 
Today we remember.
 
On this day we honor you as we remember your last meal with those whom you loved.
 
We remember how much you loved us to your death, and we celebrate, for you are with us here and now.
 
We remember how you gave your body and offered your blood that we may live and have a blessed hope for now and forever.
 
We so look forward to seeing you when you come again for us in all your glory.
 
Until that blessed time, we remember and share the bread and the wine as you instructed us to do.
 
We remember as we follow your command to love one another as you have loved us. We deeply love our brothers and sisters, caring for them and holding them up in prayer and service as we walk this God-given life together.
 
We remember as we contemplate millions of wounded souls that long for your touch and for your healing. Send us, Lord to our world. May we become Your compassion, Your love and Your help.
 
With tears of joy and appreciation Lord, on this Holy Thursday We Remember.
 
Pastor David
 

NOTE: Please remember that this Saturday April 11, a prayer vigil will be held between the hours of 6am and 6pm. Prayerfully consider praying one hour during that time. Prayers will take place in your home. God bless!

 
 
Happy Wednesday morning HCC family and friends!
 
Today we observe Holy Wednesday, in the Week of Christ’s Passion.
 
It was on this day so many years ago that Jesus ate dinner at the home of Simon, who had been healed of leprosy.  Lazarus, whom Jesus had called back from death, was there also along with the Lord’s disciples.
 
Can you imagine having dinner with that group?  For the most part, intense love and appreciation for the greatness and goodness of God was probably mixed with sorrow and uncertainty as Jesus spoke of his imminent suffering and death. It was an uncertain and formidable time to say the least.
 
While they were eating, a woman came in with a beautifully hand-crafted jar of expensive perfume and poured it over the head of Jesus. This seemingly extravagant and wasteful act caused the disciples to become indignant and angry. It is interesting that folks were critical and yet Christ saw and understood the woman’s heart and was moved with compassion toward her. He rebuked them for their lack of compassion and understanding. In addition, the Lord recognized the woman’s sacrificial gift as a preparation and appreciation for the work he was about to accomplish. There’s a scripture that says, “People look from the outside in, but God sees from the inside out.”  I take heart that our God sees it all and holds it all in His Hands.
 
During this peculiar and uncertain time, we would do well to remember that God’s purposes cannot be thwarted by human circumstances. Even as we face challenges and genuine concerns, we also take heart, knowing that the God, who turned the water into wine, who fed thousands with very little, who made the blind see and the crippled to walk, who raised the dead back to life, is at work even now, in the middle of our uncertainty. There is no ceasing or delaying the work of God!  Jesus is Lord!           Pastor David