The Battle Rages

Our spirit and flesh are in a constant state of battle. Our Spirit burns to connect with God, to push in to a closer relationship with our Father in heaven. Our flesh wants to please and satisfy itself.
It is easy to see why we all to often side with our flesh in our internal battles. The flesh is so much easier to satisfy, the flesh is simply about self-service.

Our spiritual life takes work!
It takes work to develop a powerful prayer life.
It takes time to learn to hear the voice of God.
It takes great patience to love people when they don’t love you.
It takes enormous faith to follow God when you don’t know where He is taking you.

We are Sojourners on this earth. Sojourners are longtime temporary residents. It can be tough living in a foreign land, we want to fit in but we long for our home. We try to make friends but we may seam a little different.

Romans 12 says, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

You are a mighty, powerful, spiritual champion, called by God to reach the world. Wherever you are now, this is your battleground. You are there to reach your city for God! Get your head straight, the people around you are not your enemy they are your mission field!

Reach out to someone in your city today, invite them to church for Easter. Have them over for dinner or a cup of coffee. Love them that’s what Jesus would do.
You are amazing people with incredible talents, don’t waist them on the flesh, let your spirit loose!

Have a great week.
Ps Steve

Relationships

Relationships are powerful things, good relationships can strengthen us and make us appear better then we really are. Bad relationships can destroy us, no matter how great we actually are.

2 Corinthians 6:14: "Do not be unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and lawlessness have in common? What fellowship has light with darkness."

Paul's writing can not be over stated, we are given the image of to oxen plowing a field. The oxen are yoked together, if they work together they can accomplish great shows of strength, however if one pulls and the other does not then less work is done then if there was only one oxen.

Our greatest relationship in our lives has to be between us and God. When we connect with God we are yoking our lives to the architect of our lives, no one is more for you, no one could be a better match.

We can help so many people as we share the experience of our relationship with God with our friends and family. We must be powerful influence on the world around us!

Connect your life to God, pray daily, read your bible, set time aside each day to talk to God. You will be amazed how easy it is.
Have a great week,
See you in Church!

Ps Steve

Merry Christmas from Christian City Church

We would like to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas!
This Christmas Eve we will have a beautiful Candle Lit Service.
The Service will begin at 6pm and will last about an hour.
We invite you to join us as we celebrate one of the most
exciting days of the year, the birth of our Savior!
See our website for more details & directions

This has been an exciting year for Christian City Church as we launched our first public service in February. We have grown and have many wonderful people who have come along side us to see the incredible Gospel message spread throughout our city and beyond.

We are looking forward to 2010 with enormous excitement!
Raleigh is an amazing city, great diversity and a common focus on a better way of life has drawn people from throughout the nation to settle here. This is a city full of talented and gifted people, we are called here to release those talents and gifts. To see people grow and come to understand how they are called to REACH OUT to the world around them.
We are just beginning to see all the incredible things God has planned for this city and its people.

Have a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Ps. Stephen & Merri-Beth Alexander
and the rest of the Alexander family!

Thanksgiving Newsletter

		Hello Church: We wanted to send a huge prayer for an amazing Thanksgiving to you and your family. Of all the many things I am Thankful for, one of the things I am most thankful for is you. Without you Christian City Church, Raleigh would not be possible. Thank you all for your time and support of the incredible work that was begun in Raleigh, NC We look forward to seeing everyone in church this week, I am believing this week is going to be an amazing breakthrough week as we wrap-up the series on faith. We will be setting time aside during service to pray for people this week, if you know of anyone in need of healing this is going to be a fantastic opportunity to invite them to church. I hope this helps as we push into God and seek His will and purpose for His church and our lives.
		FOOD DRIVE
		Hey Guys one quick reminder for this coming Sunday be sure to bring your cans of non-perishable food for the Eastern Carolina food bank, we are connecting with Guitar Center to help those in need.
		FREE GIVE AWAY
		We are giving away an Ipod NANO Video to a visitor from the month of November. Bring your friends and make sure to register them as first time guests and you both can win a brand new Ipod Nano Video. We will be giving away our first Nano in December.
		FREE MUSIC If you have not yet logged onto www.C3Worship.com and check out the Free Music and videos, as well as New Original Music from C3 Worship Leaders around the world
		We look forward to seeing you this Sunday at 11am Have a great week, see you in church!
		Please pass this on to friends and family that may not be on our email list yet.
		Visit www.c3ral.com for more info about C3 Church and where we are headed

Wind of Change

Revelation 22

 2 On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.

Our lives are full of seasons, some seasons are fruitful others are seasons of preparation, some seasons are dormant. Even the best seed in the most fertile soil will not grow or bare fruit in a winter season.

Winds increase between seasons signaling change is coming. The wind of heaven is a good thing, it causes a shaking in our lives. 

When the wind blows through the trees, two things fall off the tree, dead things and ripe fruit.

Dead things need to be pruned from our lives, they weigh us down and suck life from an otherwise healthy tree.

Ripe fruit needs to be released from our lives. Ripe fruit that hangs on a tree for to long becomes sour and spoiled, but when it is released in season it is sweet and blesses everyone who tastes it.

We are experiencing a season of shaking and releasing, in both the natural world and the spiritual kingdom.

This is an incredible time to see Gods hand in our lives and to trust that He is our provider. God has a plan and if we have faith we will see greater fruitfulness then we could ever have imagined.

Ecclesiastes 3:1
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven

Have an incredible week,

See you in church!

Ps. Steve