Merry Christmas from the Burkholder Family

The Genetics of Christmas, Part 3

Matthew 1:1-17

Do you like a good mystery? Whether it is a book that you are reading or a movie that you are watching, there is something intriguing about trying to solve a mystery. All of us have been amazed by a shocking conclusion. Or better yet, proud of ourselves if we are able to figure it out!

The Bible is full of mysteries. I am not referring to a mystery as in an "Agatha Christie" sort of way. Rather, a biblical mystery is a truth that is impossible for us to fully comprehend. The only way to truly accept it is by faith.

Matthew chapter one, the passage that is the basis for our studies, shed light on a biblical mystery: that of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Simply stated, the virgin birth of Christ refers tot he fact that Mary was a virgin when Jesus Christ was born. She had never had physical relations with Joseph or with any other man. This truth, though clearly stated in the latter part of this chapter (vs. 18, 23) is alluded to in the genealogical section.

Beginning in verse two, you notice a similar pattern repeated throughout the verses. Time after time in the NKJV we find the word "begat" For example verse states that "Abraham began Isaac" The meaning is that Isaac is was the son of Abraham. He was from his seed. He was his physical son.

As you arrive at verse 16, you see something completely different. Jesus was not begotten of Joseph. As a matter of fact, physically, Joseph had nothing to do with Jesus' birth. The Greet text indicates that something out of the ordinary, something different, even supernatural took place with Christ's birth. What happened?

Verse 18 - "... Mary was found with child by the Holy Spirit."

God, in a pure, mysterious, supernatural way what we cannot fully comprehend planted the divine seed within Mary's womb. At birth, He truly became one of us, yet He was different from us. He was 100% God and 100% man.

Take just a moment and meditate on the ramifications of such a truth. As a man, He understands us. As God, He saved us. Now that is the greatest mystery of them all!

The Genetics of Christmas, Part 2

Matthew 1:1-17

Does God ever make a mistake? It is easy for us to answer that question with a resounding "NO" as long as our life is flowing smoothly We must admit, though, that it is difficult to see God's purpose in the difficulties of life.

In the good times as well as in the bad, we need to believe and rest in the sovereignty of God. That might be a term that you do not recognize or it might even scare you Don't be intimidated by it though. It simply means that God supernaturally controls or permits everything that happens on the Earth. Nothing is a mistake. Nothing is an accident. Nothing happens outside of His control.

As we look at the events surrounding the birth of Christ someone might comment, "what a coincidence," or "what a stroke of luck, everything turned out perfect." Of course it did. God planned it that way!

One of the purposes of Matthew's Gospel is to establish Jesus' right to the throne of Israel:

Matthew - Presents Christ as King

Mark - Presents Christ as the Servant

Luke - Presents Christ as the Son of Man

John - Presents Christ as the Son of God

According to Jewish law, if Jesus is to be King, there must be proof that He comes from the recognized royal family. Matthew chapter one and Luke chapter three give the necessary proof. Matthew begins with Abraham and David and goes forward towards Christ. Luke begins with Christ and goes backward to Adam.

Luke's record in the physical genealogy traces Mary's ancestry. Matthew's record validates Christ's royal claim to the throne of Israel by showing His legal descent from David through Joseph - Jesus' legal father.

Jesus was therefore the blood descendant of David through Mary, and the legal descendant of David through Joseph. What is the point?

• Jesus is perfectly qualified to assume the Throne of David.
• Jesus is the only one qualified to assume the Throne of David

Take heart, just as God sovereignly and supernaturally controlled the events of Jesus' birth, He is controlling your life. Trust Him with all of your heart and follow His direction.

The Genetics of Christmas, Part 1

Matthew 1:1-17

If you are like me, reading through the genealogies is not an easy task. Sometimes it is quite difficult to pronounce the names. In addition, it can be quite boring to read a long list of individuals whose names mean very little if anything to us. I have to admit that I have been known to skip those long lists and jump onto the next passage that seems to be a little more interesting. One of my fears, though, is that I will meet Amminadab, Nahshon or Salmon in Heaven and not remember that their names were listed in Matthew chapter one.

Believe it or not though, there are valuable truths that are hid within the unpronounceable names of the biblical genealogies. With a little more diligence and study we can uncover principles that can dramatically impact our lives. It just takes a little work.

A great example is the prayer of Jabez found in I Chronicles 4:9, 10. The first twelve chapters of I Chronicles give list after list of Israelite tribes, families and leaders. As I am sure you have experienced, it can be somewhat tedious to try to wade through each of those names. Nevertheless, right in the middle of he genealogical section, we find a tremendous prayer that gave Jabez the faith to overcome the tragedy that is illustrated by his name.

My point is that there are some wonderful truths that are buried deep within the genealogical lists. With that in mind, throughout the next few days we will take an exciting ride through Matthew chapter one. Let me encourage you to make a commitment to read through this chapter during the coming days. I promise that you will experience the excitement and the blessing of uncovering truths that you have never seen before!

It is Already A Winning Season!

Although we have just begun the 2010/11 basketball season, we can already tell that it is going to be a success at The Hollywood Christian Academy. Our Lady Eagles team which has been to the state finals the past three years is once again, expected to make the trip central Florida. Just last night (11/26) our Lady Eagles beat Miami Norland High School, which was last year's 4A state champion. We believe that this could be the year that we win a state championship. Go Lady Eagles!

More importantly, though, God is at work in the lives of our young basketball stars. Recently, two of our players trusted Christ as their personal Savior and another followed the Lord in believer's baptism. I am certain that you would agree, those decisions are more important than ten state titles!

I dare not fail to mention our boys team as well. They are young, but very talented. Their regular season schedule has them playing many schools that are much larger than THCA. I guarantee you that you will be impressed with the hustle and the talent that they demonstrate!

Let me encourage you to pray for Coach Adamson and Coach Osceala. God is using them to not only develop talented ball players, but also young people that are going to make an impact on this world for the cause of Christ. It is going to be a great season!

Girls schedule - http://tinyurl.com/2epaskx
Boys schedule - http://tinyurl.com/2586dgh

Great Community Outreach!

On Saturday Hollywood Community Church held its first community mega-yard sale. This unique event was hosted by the HCC Ladies' Ministry. The response and the turnout were absolutely fantastic. The main purpose of this activity was to meet and minister to the families that live around our campus, and it was a rousing success. In total, some 50 different venders "opened shop" on our parking lot and in our gymnasium. In addition, hundreds of our neighbors attended, shopped and just had a great time.

Special thanks to our Ladies' ministry, maintenance staff and parking lot volunteers. Your dedicated service made the event a tremendous success!

The Hole in the Gospel

Recently, I was recommended the book by Richard Stearns titled, The Hole in the Gospel. In this, his first published work, the President of World Vision, asks if we as twenty-first century Christians, have embraced the whole gospel or a gospel with a hole in it?

In the first chapter, Mr. Stearns lays the biblical foundation for his premise that the Gospel includes more than the simple plan of salvation. In making such a statement, by no means, is he minimizing the signifance or the power of salvation by faith. Rather, he states that "in our evangelistic efforts to make the good news accesible and simple to understand, we seem to have boiled it down to a 'fire insurance' that one can buy." Sadly, we have ignored the hundreds of other exhortations found in God's Word to protect the persecuted, feed the hungry,and love the less fortunate. If we cut those commands out of the Bible we literally have a book with a whole in it.

Having been raised and trained in an independent Baptist envornment, I must confess that for years I have looked at social ministry as unnecessary. After all, as long we as we are introducing them to Jesus Christ and and leading them toward eternal life, then we have done our part, right? I am afraid that I was gravely mistaken. We have not only been commanded to share Jesus with a lost world, but to literally be Jesus as well.

Did Jesus ignore the hurting, the hungry and the homeless? We all know that he did not. If Christ loved and cared for them, why should we do any less? I am reminded of John's words in I John 3:17, "If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need, but shows no compassion - how can God's love be in that person."

To my friends and critics that will read this post and believe that I have become liberal and that I am watering down the Gospel, let me assure you that my passion for evangelism has not waned. As a matter of fact, I am convinced that such a position puts me and my fellow servants in a much better position to share our faith. After all, one is much more prone to listen to the gospel message with a full stomach.

"Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God." Bob Pierce, Founder of World Vision.

Operation Christmas Child

As a congregation it is our privilege to participate with thousands of other churches and Christians around the world as we share the joy of the Lord and the Gospel of Jesus Christ during this Christmas season. Last year more than 8 million children received Operation Christmas Child gift boxes. The boxes contained everything from clothes to toys to personal items and candy. Most importantly, though, many of these boys and girls received a copy of the booklet, "The Greatest Gift of All," which, of course, gives a detailed presentation of the Gospel.


Last year, Hollywood Community Church gave some 1,000 boxes and we would like to do that or more this year. We are encouraging each family to take three boxes because statistics show that one out of every three kids that receive a box, trust Christ as their personal Savior. That is a great investment!

In Matthew 25:40 Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me."

You can still pick up your pre-wrapped box in the back of the auditorium. Sunday, November 14th will be our "Operation Christmas Child Sunday." We will fill the front of the church with gift boxes and have a special time of prayer over them. This Christmas, let's impact the lives of hundreds of boys and girls by showing them the love of Jesus Christ. I am excited to see what God is going to do!

We feed their stomachs and fill their souls!

One of the most fruitful ministries of Hollywood Community Church is our Open Heart Food Pantry. Led by Vito Culicchia a team of more than twenty volunteers work week after week to purchase, pack and deliver groceries to more than 200 families. This past Saturday more than 260 families were loved, prayed with and fed.

It is important for us to realize that loving and feeding the poor is a very important, and often neglected part of the Gospel. I would remind you that it was Jesus that said in Luke 14:18, 19, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind. To release the oppresed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Without a doubt, those two verses are a messianic prophecy that envision Jesus as both a prophet and servant. Many would hold that it is Jesus' mission statement as He declares what He would accomplish in the lives of those that believe on Him. Richard Stearns in his book The Hole in the Gospel emphatically states that the Gospel involves more than just evangelism. "The whole gospel is truly good news for the poor." In other words we cannot simply change a man's spiritual condition and ignore his physical needs.

I John 4:17 - But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in Him?

I am so proud of our Open Heat team. May God continue to use them to fill the stomach's of the poor, but also to fill their soul with the life-changing message of the Gospel!

How do you view yourself?

I Samuel 18:23 - Do you think that it is a small matter to be the king's son-in-law? I'm only a poor man and little know.

Recently, we have examined the life of David and seen several characteristics that define true greatness. I Samuel 18 gives us an additional characteristic of biblical greatness. It is interesting to see that although everyone around him was convinced of his greatness, David seemed oblivious to all of the attention and fanfare that he was receiving. As a matter of fact, the only person in Israel that seemed unaware of David's greatness was David. He wasn't nearly as impressed with himself as others were.

That brings us to an important principle: The person who possesses true greatness will be the last one to know it!

Admittedly that is difficult for many of us. We are much more prone to track our progress on the "greatness meter." Unfortunately though, we are generally the only ones that believe that we have acheived prominence.

Solomon said it this way in Proverbs 27:2, "Let another praise you and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips." Paul seconds Solomon's conclusion by stating in II Corinthians 10:8, "For it is not one who commends himself that is approved, but the one who the Lord commends."

So today, let me challenge you to not ask the Lord to make you great, but rather to make you humble. After all, He "resists the pround, but gives grace to the humble."

God is doing the miraculous!

Several weeks ago we began a campaign at Hollywood Community Church that we titled, "Rebuilding the Walls!" We recognized four walls that God needed to rebuild in order for us to be the church that God wants us to be.

* The wall of trust
* The wall of emotions
* The wall of leadership
* The wall of provision

In order to rebuild the final wall we felt led by God to take a special offering on Sunday, October 10th. We set a goal of $100,000 which for us was a huge step of faith. For the past three weeks our people have fasted and prayed asking God to do the impossible. Well, today He did just that. Our offering this morning was $93,484 and there is still more coming in. Isn't that amazing. We truly serve an awesome God!

I also want to commend our church family. Many of our people gave sacrificially. Some of them made huge sacrifices. Please pray that God increases their faith and that He supplies all of their needs according to His riches in glory! (Phil 4:19)

God is doing great things at HCC. I am sure that there are many more great reports to come. Stay tuned...

Hundreds turn out to pray for Derek Avilez

This past Sunday at Hollywood Community Church we were honored to host a special time of prayer for Derek Avilez. More than 650 people showed up for the service. Along with the members of HCC, many of those present were family, friends and a large number of Derek's co-workers. At one point, the altar was filled with people that surrounded the Avilez family crying out to God for Derek's healing.

The firefighters and rescue personnel for the city of Hollywood have literally "gone above and beyond the call of duty" in caring for the Avilez family. They have provided food at the hospital; they are working Derek's shifts; they are running the family's bounce house business; and they are moving them into a new house. What an example of godly compassion. They literally have lived out the command of Romans 12:15 which exhorts us to "rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn." Thank you Hollywood Fire and Rescue for your servant's heart and tremendous example!

Please pray for Derek!

Recently, Derek and Priscilla Avilez, along with their three children began attending Hollywood Community Church. Yesterday, as Derek was skim boarding at Hollywood Beach, he had an accident which resulted in a fracture of his C2 vertebrae. He is presently in critical condition at Memorial Regional Hospital. For the moment he has been diagnosed as a quadripoligic because he is unable to move from the neck down.

Please pray for the folowing requests:

1. That the swelling on his spinal column would decrease.
2. That he would once again begin breathing on his own.
3. That he would regain movement as the swelling decreases.
4. That God would give peace and comfort to Priscilla, the kids and the rest of the family.
5. That God would use Derek, Priscilla and the rest of the family to give a shining testimony of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 103:2, 3 - Bless the Lord, O my soul. And forget not all His benefits, who heals all your diseases.

Great in the eyes of others!

I Samuel 18:5 - So David went out wherever Saul sent him and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

True greatness is measured by God, but it is perceived by those around us. Such is the case with David. As we will see in the next few posts, David was not only great in God's eyes, but he was highly admired by those around him as well.

• The king's perception - I Samuel 18:8-12

Bluntly stated, King Saul hated David and wanted him dead. When he looked at David he looked at him through jealous eyes. Notice several verses in our chapter...

v. 8 - Saul was angry

v. 9 - Saul eyed David

v. 12 - Saul was afraid of David

Saul hated him not because he was unkind, cruel or even disobedient. He hated him because God was with him and not with Saul. David was what Saul knew he should be, and he despised him for it.

• The public perception - 18:5, 7, 16

God divinely gave David favor in the eyes of those throughout Israel's Kingdom. The perception was shared by both Saul's servants (v. 5), as well as his subject (vs. 5, 16, 30). Simply put these people saw how David acted and were impressed with him.

The same could be said of Saul's own children (18:1-4, 20). Both Jonathon, Saul's son, and Michael, Saul's daughter loved David. There was a connection, a like-ability, a God-given attraction that impressed even Saul's own family.

How do others view you? Can they see God working in your life?

Zechariah 8:23 speaks of men that will live in such a way that it will cause others so say, "Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you." May God help us to live in such a way that others will see Christ in us!

What is true greatness?

I Samuel 16:7 - "...for the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

How is greatness measured? Is it measured by how much money a person has? Or can it be determined by the car they drive, the size of house in which they live, or in the status that they have achieved in life? Is true greatness recognizable by one's achievements in life?

Some would say "yes," but I have a sneaking suspicion that God would say, "NO!" I think that God would say, "True greatness is not measured by what you achieve in life, but by how you life your life."

We see than principle perfectly illustrated in the life of David. Let me remind you of some of the events in David's life...

• As an adolescent he was anointed as the future king of Israel.
• He became a national hero by defeating Israel's feared enemy.
• He was brought to the king's palace and became a part of King Saul's inner circle.
• He became best friends with the crown prince.

Wow! Now that sounds like David had, at least, reached a certain level of success, right? It is important to realize that not a single one of those acts made him great. As a matter of fact, I would submit that it was not what he did that made him great, but rather how he responded to each of those situations that demonstrated his greatness.

What a Baptismal Service!

This past Sunday at Hollywood Community Church we had the privilege of seeing 17 new believers follow the Lord in believer's baptism. Yes, you read that right, 17 new believers. In more than 26 years of ministry, there has only been one other time in which I baptized so many in one service. We are so excited about all that God is doing. There is no doubt that God is at work! Let me share some our new member's testimonies.

Marl Osceola was saved as a result of The Hollywood Christian Academy. Mrs. Linda Canott, a former THCA teacher, during a home visit led Marl to Christ. The story does not end there, though, this past week Gloria Ortiz, our children's ministry director and I had the privilege of leading six of his kids to Christ. Then on Sunday, Marl and seven of his children followed the Lord in believer's baptism. How cool is that?

Victory Pabon walked into HCC just four weeks ago. He immedialty felt loved and accepted by our church family. In a few short weeks he had tied into one of our Foundations Bible Study classes and had become involved in our Open Heart Food Pantry. Recently, he realized his need of Christ and trusted Him as his personal Savior. This past Sunday he identified himself with Christ in believer's baptism.

How about you? Have you demonstrated obedience to Christ's command and been baptized? Our next baptismal service is Sunday, October 17. If you haven't been baptized, let me encourage you to "jump in" and identify yourself as a follower of Jesus Christ!

LA CONEXION

Last evening we celebrated my final service as the

Pastor of LA CONEXION, the Spanish ministry of New Testament Baptist Church. For five years we had the opportunity to minister alongside of these tremendous brothers and sisters in Christ. What a blessing it has been for us to see their knowledge of God's Word increase, their faith grow and their passion for the ministry to increase. I truly believe that God has great things in store for them in the future.

In our final service we were able to baptize a new believer, dedicate three babies (and their parents), and graduate 10 from the Foundations Bible Study program. On top of that, we had a traditional Latin "despedida" as our people brought some of the best Hispanic food in south Florida! It was a tremendous night.