Here’s what it looks like:

Winter Quarter

Jan. 15th – March 11th

Spring Quarter Sign-ups

March 11th- March 31st

Spring Quarter

April 1st – June 3rd

Summer Break

June 10th – September 9th

Why do we take the Summers off?

Certainly, there are some disadvantages to taking the summer off. But it’s important to do in order to give our leaders a break to keep them involved through the years and not just a couple years. If we asked a year round commitment from everyone we run the risk of burning out our leaders. Weekly meetings and ministry eventually take their toll and we see the summer rest as necessary.The biggest downside of the summer break is the lack of community during the summer. We are not at our best during the summer. But for the purpose of longevity and healthy leaders the summer break is necessary. For the summer we will use other means to keep people connected such as special classes,events and etc…

Fall Quarter Sign-Ups

Aug. 5th – Aug. 26th

Fall Quarter Life Groups

Aug. 26th – Nov. 11th

Christmas Break

We take a break from Thanksgiving through the New Years holiday because life for everyone is a bit crazy and people are using this time usually to travel and connect with their families.

Email Lifegroups@liveintegrity.org if you have questions or would like help finding a Life Group.

This month, here’s what’s going on:

Life Groups are Re-Launching

Life Groups are launching the week of Jan. 15th. We’ll be sending out specific details soon about the 2012 schedule and some changes to Life Group structure. Let us know if you are interested in joining a Life Group by emailing lifegroups@liveintegrity.org.

New Sunday Night Life Group

Chris Wilson and Adam Melanchon will be co-leading a new Life Group that will meet Sunday nights at 6:30pm. If you’re new to Integrity and have not connected with a Life Group yet, this would be a great one to try out! Email lifegroups@liveintegrity.org if your interested.

Financial Peace University

FPU is a 13 week class designed to teach families (and single people) how to avoid debt and manage their money. Matt Bell will lead the class on Monday nights starting January 23rd at 7pm Find more information and sign up by clicking here.

Integrity Students

Integrity Students is our Middle and High school student ministry. They will meet on January 15th, 5-7pm at 4433 Norris Store Rd/Ayden, NC 28513.

Endure Conference

Integrity Church is hosting a free conference called Endure: Going the Distance in Ministry. Endure will take place Thursday Jan. 26th from 1-4pm at the City Hotel & Bistro.  Endure will help equip you with practical insights and wisdom from three leading pastors on going the distance in ministry. Click here to register.
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Also, PDF giving statements will be sent out this month electronically through email. We do this in order to save money. We will also be sharing with everyone our 2011 annual report.

Christmas Missions Offering

Every year during the Christmas season, Integrity comes together to bless our world. We can do more as a whole than we ever could do separately.

We’ll collect the Christmas Missions Offering Beginning December 4 through December 18th. Continue to pray about how you can be involved! There are several ways to participate:

In one of our worship services - You can give personal checks and/or cash gifts towards Christmas Missions during our general offering time. Make checks out to “Integrity Church” and be sure to specify “Christmas Missions” in the memo line. Place cash gifts in the envelope marked “Christmas Missions.”

Online - You can give towards our Christmas Missions Offering Online. Be sure to specify that your gift is for “Christmas Missions Fund.”

Mail - You can mail your gift to our church office: Integrity Church PO Box 31151, Greenville, NC 27858. Be sure to make your checks out to “Integrity Church” and specify “Christmas Missions” in the memo line.

Goal for 2011 – $4,000

100% of this years offering will go to serve HaitiLove. HaitiLove exists to glorify God by loving Haitians through service, education, proclamation, and prayer. It’s our mission to connect Haitian and American churches for mutual edification resulting in healthy churches who reproduce themselves. HaitiLove is currently focusing its efforts in Ouanaminthe, a city of over 100,000 people on the Haitian and Dominican border. Some estimate that half the population is under the age of 18. Unemployment hovers around 70%.

Haiti is currently partnered with a church that operates an orphanage in that serves over 40 children. They also run a school that helps 800 people. The vision is that no child in Ouanaminthe would go hungry, homeless, sick or uneducated.

HaitiLove sees Ouanaminthe as the launching pad for all its future ministry in Haiti. It is our desire to equip Haitians to restore Haiti one soul and one city at a time.

We are taking up offerings for HaitiLove throughout the month of December. You will be able to give on Sunday mornings and online.

Honor God by giving cheerfully.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes about the church in Macedonia that loves to give.  He gives some helpful principles from their example, “Each one must give as he has decided in His heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Money is a tool that God gives to help others and advance the Gospel. When we use it this way, more people meet Jesus, and enjoy the same grace that has been given to us.

Every Sunday, Integrity Church gathers at the City Hotel and Bistro to worship together and hear the Word of God preached. Every week the Gospel is proclaimed.  Its only made possible by the many people who give money, time and resources that allow us to pay the rent, support the staff, and pay the bills. Its exciting to see Jesus change lives and to play a part in it by giving.

Honor God by giving sacrificially.

Paul also applauds the Macedonian congregation for giving beyond their means to help a church that was suffering. Despite sacrifice and hardship, the Macedonians’ “abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity (2 Cor. 8:2).” There is a connection between this sacrifice and Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice. Jesus willingly sacrificed his life in order to save sinners.  Our giving will never equal Jesus’ giving, but it’s clear that, as his disciples, we are to contribute in a similar sacrificial way

Honor God by giving regularly.

The Bible does not mandate a specific frequency in our giving. We are free to establish a regular plan in our giving that matches the rhythm of our lives.  Regular giving requires discipline. It also serves as a constant reminder that what we have does not truly belong to us. Irregular giving is an indication of poor stewardship: a reluctance to give, poor/lack of planning, or laziness.  Regular giving habits are a helpful and important foundation upon which to build a more thoroughly generous life.

A Practical Way to Give Regularly.

Everyone is different but one practical way to give regularly and practice good stewardship is to make a monthly budget and determine how much you will give. Many people also set up a monthly recurring online gift in order to stay regular in giving.  To learn how to mange your finances better we recommend Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover.

To give to Integrity church online, go Here.

Adapted from Jamie Munson’s “Money: God or Gift“

The goal of interpreting Scripture is to minimize subjectivity and confidently say, “Thus says the Lord.”

Principle # 1: Read the Bible in an Attitude of Prayer

Undoubtedly, the process behind studying Scripture is both scientific and literary in method.  But, as students of Scripture, we must never forget that this is a spiritual exercise.  Open your study in prayer. Ask God to open your eyes and incline your heart so that His words burns in you (Ps. 119:18; Luke 24:32). The Holy Spirit is our great teacher and guide, leading us into all truth (John 16:13).  The words of Scripture are the Holy Spirit’s words, to be led by the Holy Spirit is to have the Word of Christ dwelling in us richly (Col. 3:16).

Principle # 2: Remember that Context is King

Always, always, always consider the context of the passage that you are studying.  “Context” means “that which goes with the text.” To study a passage in context means to examine the verses before the text and those after. Ripping verses out of context, and using them in a way that does not represent the intended meaning of the Holy Spirit, is irresponsible and inexcusable. Ask yourself, “How does this passage fit within the surrounding context?”

Principle # 3: Look for the historical meaning first

The Bible was written during particular periods of redemptive history.  Therefore, before application is made, the historical meaning must be identified.  While a text may have numerous applications, the goal is to look for the meaning the original author intended for his original audience.  Always ask, “What did the original author want the original readers to understand about this passage?”

Principle # 4: Identify the type of literature in which the verse is found

Some of the classifications of scripture, albeit oversimplified go like this: (1) Law, (2) OT Narratives, (3) Acts, (4) Prophets, (5) Psalms, (6) Wisdom, (7) Gospels, (8) Parables, (9) Revelation.   We must interpret a text in a manner that is consistent with its literary genre.  For example, we should remember that narratives are not always normative.  In other words, Luke’s purpose in Acts (A narrative genre) is not to prescribe particular actions.  His purpose is to describe certain events that happened in the early church.  Not everything that happens in the book of Acts is normative for us today.  For the book of Revelation, we must remember that is was written to a particular people at a particular time.  So, before we go rushing after predicting the future, the book had to mean something to the original hearers.  The original meaning for the original readers is the meaning for us.  Genre keeps us tied to the nature and history of the books of the Bible.

Principle # 5: Remember that the whole Bible focuses upon God’s redeeming work in Jesus

The Old Testament points to Christ, and the New Testament flows from Christ.  Therefore, always ask, “What does this passage teach me about God? How does it point to Christ?” Always read with an eye for how the text is connected to Jesus.

Principle # 6: Interpret Scripture with Scripture

Scripture is not only historical, it is also harmonious.  Always ask, “How is the teachings of this passage consistent with other teachings found elsewhere in Scripture?” Practically, this means that we should look for cross-references for specific teachings.

Principle # 7: Since the Bible is a unified testimony, always look for theological themes in the selected passage

Look for where the theme started, how it is developed, and where it culminated. Ask, “What is the biblical theme in this text?” This is one way to look for the redemptive focus of a selected passage legitimately.

Adapted from Tony Merida’s “Faithful Preaching”

I’ve been reading a book on apologetics by Tim Keller, The Reason for God, in which he gives many arguments for the existence of not only a general God, but the God of the Bible.  In one chapter he gives a brief explanation of a number of logical arguments for God, ones like the fact that we find things beautiful and what is sometimes referred to as the “Goldilocks argument,” (Renowned atheist Christopher Hitchins even said that the Goldilocks argument is the one that he has the most problems with) that there are a number of physical laws that if their attributes were not exactly as they are, that life would not exist.  I had heard this one in the past, but he gave one that I have never thought of before and that made so much sense; the regularity of nature.  Scientists have no idea why nature continues to repeat itself.  Something as simple as the sun rising tomorrow, we only know this because for all of history, it has risen, therefore we know it will tomorrow.  This is what science is based on, the fact that a scientific “law” is something that happens every single time.  Tomorrow, water will boil at the same temperature as it did today, and will for the rest of time, because it has always boiled at that temperature.  This idea of regularity of nature is what science is built on, yet scientists don’t know why it continues to work.  What is more, is that science cannot prove the continued regularity of nature, it can only be taken on faith.  Each day, scientists make a leap of faith that what was true yesterday will still be true today.

The Christian response to this should be, “Yes, nature does repeat itself because we have an incredibly powerful Savior that holds it together (Colossians 1:17)!”

There are so many other things that point to the God of the Bible, but this is one that knocked me off my feet today, so I wanted to share it with you.  Keller’s book is an incredibly easy, yet fascinating read.  Do it, I promise you’ll enjoy it.

But the summer is nearly over, and we are beginning our life groups again starting August 28th.  The 5 life groups will continue to meet and there will also be two more that are beginning, the Morrisette Life Group and the Cunningham Life Group.  The Morrisette life group will meet on Wednesday nights at 6:30 in West Greenville (go here for more info) and the Cunningham life group will meet on Tuesday nights at 6:30 in Winterville (here for info).  For more information about the rest of our life groups, go here.

Life groups are the heartbeat of Integrity; its where true community happens!  So please get involved in one!

- Mitzi

I have the privilege of teaching Sunday school for the month of July for the elementary age group at our church. The curriculum we use is Children Desiring God. Every time that I teach, I am blown away and encouraged by the truths that my children are learning about God. “Children Desiring God exists to equip the body of Christ to spread to the next generations a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. Our aim is to impart to children a vision of God, who He is, and who we are in relation to Him, and to establish them with a foundation of doctrine and truth. We want them biblically grounded, seeing God as the hero of every story, with a God-centered world view and a faith that will hold them when the days of testing come. We want them to love the Lord their God with all their heart, and to delight in Him forever.”

So, back to my point in wanting to write down and remember a sweet moment this morning. I was teaching Sunday school and in the middle of the lesson Margaret asked if she could share a prayer request. When the lesson was over I asked if anyone else wanted to share something for me to pray and ask God for. Hannah wanted me to pray for her dog who had hook worms:) Then Caleb raised his hand. He asked if I would pray for his heart. I asked if he could tell me why or what was wrong with his heart and he said it was full of sin. In that moment my own heart felt several things. There was deep relief inside of me as it appears that he is hearing the things we are teaching him and there is a recognition of his own sinfulness. I also felt joy as he was willing to be honest and share something so personal about himself with his friends and with me. I did pray for his heart and I thanked God that Caleb does see his sin and recognize that it’s a problem. I also prayed that all of the kids would see Jesus as the only rescuer from their sin. I pray often that God would give him (and Lydia) the faith to repent and believe in Jesus but I know that one has to first see the seriousness of their sin which brings about their desire and need for a Savior. I’m thankful that I was teaching today when he shared that prayer request. Maybe God is at work in his little heart.

- Kim Morrisette

Justification by works is, in truth, the natural religion of mankind, and has been since the Fall of mankind into sin. God’s gift of grace in Christ, a workless salvation, completely counters man’s natural way of thinking. Salvation by self-effort is what we naturally drift towards, this is why its important we preach the Gospel daily to ourselves. And when a church loses its grip of the gospel it dies slowly and painfully and eventually becomes, in a spiritual and theological sense, powerless and poor. Without a proper understanding of the Gospel, the church loses its power and becomes just another dead religious institution.

Sola Fide

Sola Fide is latin for “by faith alone.” Sola Fide represents the biblical doctrine of Justification by faith alone. Why is “Sola Fide” so important? Martin Luther called justification by faith “articulus stands aut cadentis ecclesiae“,–”the point of belief which determines whether the church stands or falls”. It is the cardinal doctrine of the protestant reformation and it’s what the fight was all about.

What is Justification?

Justification is the act in which unholy sinners are made right before a holy God. All men are born evil and unjust (Rom. 3:23). We still all have a sense of justice however. For example, it’s interesting how we get angry when a judge lets a child rapist get off easy. We’re angry because an injustice has occurred, we feel the judge hasn’t done his job correctly. It’s right we feel this way because justice has not been carried out. We crave for justice! Evil was not punished, and it makes us angry. We yell, “A good judge would have punished the crime!” And that’s right, a good judge does punish crime. But with the creator God, the thought is, “oh, He’s God, He just forgives, that’s what he does”. Our incorrect thought is that no one will have to pay a price for sin because God will just simply wipe it all away. We feel God will simply forgive us for the bad things we’ve done. But there is a huge inconsistency here… If a good earthly judge punishes crime, then how much more will a perfectly just and holy God punish wickedness? Most people think the goodness of God will keep them out of hell. They say God is so good he would never send anyone to hell. But the opposite is true. God is so good he will punish evil because its the right thing to do. God will punish evil because he is good, he will not let evil just slide. Because God is good, he will punish sin.

The problem is, we (you and me) are the evil ones (Rom. 3:10-12). We are unrighteous people and its impossible to become righteous through our own self-effort. The Bible teaches that to go to heaven we must be perfectly righteous, but we’re not… Therefore, our greatest need is righteousness. A price for our sin had to be paid! And the price of our sin was paid at the Cross. All the evil that believers have committed was punished. Our evil was placed on Jesus, and the good Judge God punished Jesus, His Son in our place on the Cross.

How Do We Become Righteous?

The answer is Jesus. The good news is that God gives us the perfect righteousness of Christ through our faith in Jesus. Paul wanted to be found in Christ, “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—(Philippians 3:9 ESV). To say we are justified by faith alone means we are justified by Christ alone and not by our good works and deeds. The works we do will never be good enough to justify us before a holy God. As Paul puts it, “By deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight” (Romans 3:20). Since we cannot become righteous on our own, we need an alien righteousness. We need someone else’s righteousness. In the Gospel, we are declared righteous when God imputes/credits the righteousness of Christ to our account. The condition for this imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us is our faith. While this idea makes sense to us now, it was radical during the reformation and completely opposed to the Roman Catholic understanding of justification. Roman Catholic Theology does not deny that faith in Christ isn’t necessary for salvation. They deny that salvation comes through faith alone, they add good works as a necessary condition. Instead of faith alone, for them, its faith plus works equal salvation. In contrast, the biblical gospel (recovered in the reformation) proclaims faith alone in Christ leads to salvation.

What is Faith?

The faith that justifies a person before a holy God is a living faith. Its not an empty profession. Faith is a trust that clings to Christ alone for salvation. Saving faith is marked by belief in Christ as both Savior and Lord. This means that a person with saving faith will have a desire to obey Christ from the Scriptures. They will repent from sin. They will grow to hate what God hates and love what God loves.

Faith is a Gift, not a Work

Is faith a work? No. Jesus declares “no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father.” (John 6:65) In the same passage Jesus declares: “all that the Father gives to Me will come to Me.” (John 6:37) The phrase “come to Me” means “believe in Me.” Taken together Jesus states simply that a person cannot have faith in Him unless God grants it. God grants faith, a faith, that arises in the heart of people whom God has given His Son.

An unregenerate man cannot produce His own faith in God. A person cannot willfully humble himself to put His faith in God. When this happens, its because the Holy Spirit has given this person a new heart which is humble. People that have saving faith in Christ are not people who are more humble than other people. They have been given new hearts from God.

Believers are different from non-believers because of God’s grace alone and not because of the exertion of men’s wills. God requires faith from all men and he promises to give the Holy Spirit to all those who are ordained unto eternal life (John 6:63-65). This new heart loves God and makes them willing to believe in Christ. But apart from the new heart, this would never happen.

Conclusion

The Bible teaches that we are saved by Christ and not our good works. There is nothing we can do to impress God enough so He can save us. We are saved by the righteousness of Christ being given to us through faith. Through faith alone, the righteousness of Christ is given to us. Justification is by imputation. That is, God transfers to us the righteousness of Christ through faith. Therefore, we belong to Christ. Let us live knowing that we are justified by God through Faith in Christ.  Praise Jesus… let’s continually preach the Gospel of free grace to ourselves daily.