What's your mission? Sunday, November 8th is Missional Life Sunday. We will be sharing a few stories about people in our church who are making a difference in East Texas. Monday, November 9th we will start our next 28 Day Devotional.

Next Sunday, November 15th, all campuses of Grace Community Church will meet at 10:30am in the University Blvd Campus stadium for a Thanksgiving celebration.

Get all the details in this week's worship guide. Download here!

Throughout our study in the Song of Solomon, we have been very intentional and deliberate on keeping both the focus and the primary application of the poem on the relationship between the husband and wife.  But today, as we prepare to come to Communion, we want to revisit five applications that we have made throughout our study.  Today, we want to look at them through the eyes of the bride to her lover--through the eyes of the believer to Jesus, who is the Lover of our Soul.  These five applications are: the power of praise, Christ our En-gedi, catching the "little foxes,"  reconciliation in conflict, Christ's agape love for us.  The title sums up our destination, "Jesus, Lover of my soul!"

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Over the past 7 weeks we have taken questions from the UB Campus regarding our current sermon series, Song of Solomon. In this message Danny and Kara Loeffelholz, along with 5 Panel Participants, will address the questions that were submitted. This is a compilation of questions concerning issues within dating, engagement, and marriage.

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From whom do you take advice? If you are like me, you like to think that you are discerning about whom you allow to influence your thinking or give you direction. So, how in the world can we really take seriously the advice of a person who was so horribly derailed in their area of so-called expertise? Let's consider several reasons why we should listen to Solomon on the subject of marriage.

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All campuses of Grace Community will be gathering in one location for a Thanksgiving service. Join us for a time of worship, reflection, and praise as we become a grateful people. Illusionist Jared Hall will engage, entertain, and share the gospel with your children (Kindergarten-5th grade) during the Thanksgiving service. Childcare will also be provided for infants through 4 years old. Don’t miss this opportunity to invite your family and friends to church.

Periodically, Grace publishes a 28-day devotional focusing on a ministry or value of our church. The theme this fall is “Missional Life: What’s Your Mission?” Pick up a copy for your family in the Commons. We will begin the devotional together as a church on Monday, November 9 after Missional Life Sunday on November 8.

Grace Community Church is partnering with Pine Cove Christian Camps for a weekend retreat with author and speaker Jennifer Kennedy Dean. Pine Cove women’s retreats provide opportunities for fellowship, heart-to-heart conversations, and renewing your intimacy with the Lord. During your stay, you will enjoy solid biblical teaching, time of worship, prayer, and discussion with other women of faith.

For details about these and other opportunities, download this week's worship guides here.

Nobody told me heading into marriage just how sanctifying it would be. What I didn’t realize is that when you try to live life together then God will peal back layers of junk that you have in your life and you’re going to have to deal with it because your junk is affecting your spouse and your spouses junk is affecting you! In this final section of Song of Solomon we will take a look at how this husband and wife work through the sanctifying nature of marriage and hold strong to their commitment to the commitment! 

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One reason we see so little of the affect love is suppose to have on marriage is because we don’t know what love is. Too many see it as something that we fall in and out of based on feelings or circumstances. Real love is based on commitment, action and resolve. Love is the choice to be all for the other.  

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Grace Community Church's annual Block Party will be this Sunday evening, October 25th at Bergfeld Park in Tyler. There are lots of ways to help with this fun event. You can volunteer your time or donate candy & prizes to help make this event a success. Bring the family! 

Grace Community School is hosting a dinner with speaker/author Josh McDowell dinner on November 5. Tickets are available at the school offices and online.

Registration is going on now for the Grace women's retreat at Pine Cove. Jennifer Kennedy Dean will be the speaker. Make plans now to attend.

For details about these and other opportunities, download the worship guides.

Just like fine wine, God has created marriage to get better with time.  Solomon gives some practical advice on how to keep the flame of passion alive.  This series concludes with the essential key to a healthy and lasting marriage: A relationship with Jesus Christ through the dependency of the Holy Spirit who is God’s provision to live out God’s prescription, helping you achieve the dream of ‘happily ever after’.

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If you look at marriages and listen to people talk about their marriages, you might wonder if it is even possible for a couple to really grow in their love for one another, to experience a deeper and richer love as the seasons pass from one to the next.  It seems that what often happens is that genuine excitement and appreciation for each other soon gives way to a boring tolerance of a situation without remedy.  But the Creator of marriage never intended such misery.  God is not a master of deceit who loves to trap people in varying degrees of agony dying a slow death chained to their worst enemy.  Rather, God’s plan for marriage is that the marriage relationship become better with age.  No one knew that more than the model lover of our song, King Solomon.  This next snapshot is the new spring of his romance that brought a marriage that was deeper and richer in every aspect of their relationship—in their physical intimacy, in their conversation, in all their experiences together.

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We have watched this man and this woman work through conflict by addressing unmet expectations, having their hearts changed by only God (not one another), show grace to each other, seeking forgiveness, and now we will watch them reconcile and ultimately deepen their relationship in intimacy. This act of handling conflict is nothing short of hard and refining, but in the end it is effective and rewarding to their marriage. So come, let’s watch and learn from them.

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Most of us realize that most wines get better with age. But how about our marriages? Let's see what advice we can get on how our marriage can get better with age.  Solomon & his wife tell us that growing pleasure is a key element. The words Solomon uses here are related to the physical relationship but also apply to all aspects of the relationship. They were still enjoying one another. Is your marriage that way?

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Here are just a couple  of the announcements in this week's worship guides:

Grace Community School is hosting a dinner with speaker/author Josh McDowell dinner on November 5. Tickets are available at the school offices and online.

Grace Community Church's annual Block Party will be October 25th at Bergfeld Park in Tyler. There are lots of ways to help with this fun event. You can volunteer your time or donate candy & prizes to help make this event a success.  

Download this week's worship guides here!

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It has often been said that the only problem with a new marriage is the husband and the wife! Unfortunately, many of us have personally witnessed a marriage destruct and seen or even experienced the deep pain of conflict that has grown from a flame to an uncontrollable wildfire. Solomon is going to dedicate 25% of this book to effectively handling conflict. In this message we will watch hurt arise from an unmet expectation, but we will see this husband and wife intentionally and humbly run to God with their own issues and ultimately resolve a potential wildfire in their relationship.

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We have already seen the significant events in the lives of the king and his bride—the birthing of their romance, the flowering of their courtship, the wedding procession, the wedding night—all arranged like snapshots in an album.  Though this romance is an ideal, it is not a fantasy.  And now, the poet will present the next snapshot which not only presents the first problem in their marriage, but also the principles for solving them.  

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What do you do when marriage hurts?  What happens in you when you are dealt a painful blow by your spouse? We will learn what to do when there has been hurt comes into a relationship.

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Here are just a couple  of the announcements in this week's worship guides:

Grace Community School is hosting a dinner with speaker/author Josh McDowell dinner on November 5. Tickets are available at the school offices and online.

Grace Community Church's annual Block Party will be October 25th at Bergfeld Park in Tyler. There are lots of ways to help with this fun event. You can volunteer your time or donate candy & prizes to help make this event a success.  
 
Download Worship Guides 

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In this passage we see this husband and wife experience sexual intimacy in the way that God created it for. This intimacy will be full of friendship, gentleness and honor, trust, intimacy, holiness, sensual, satisfying, guiltless, and selfless. My hope is for those who stand in guilt and shame will know the restoring grace of Christ, those who view sex as evil will be awaken to the delight that He has created it for, and for a husband and wife who follow after Jesus would progress in knowing the depths of this beautiful intimacy together! 

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The artist of the Song of Songs has given us snapshots of the King and his chosen bride’s in their movement from the birthing of their romance to the flowering of their courtship.  It is now the night their courtship would end and their marriage begin.  The wedding guests had gone.  The evening had come. The noise and the laughter had ceased.  All the excitement and blossoming of their courtship had come to this moment.  This snapshot reveals the beauty of the sacredness of the sexual expression of their love for one another.  And their love is consummated in one of the shyest and most delicate of love scenes in world literature. 

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The drive to satisfy our desire for pleasure and connection is overwhelming. The insecurity this produces in relationships has a dramatic effect on the relational world we live in.  Even if couples are faithful, this environment of deception and desire can undermine couples seeking purity and fidelity.

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Here are a few announcements from this week's worship guides.

Grace Community School is hosting a dinner with speaker/author Josh McDowell dinner on November 5. Tickets are available October 1 at the school offices and online.

This Sunday at the Old Jacksonville Campus, there will be a meeting for couples interested in the marriage mentoring program. Come to the Newcomer's Cafe during the 9:30am or 11am service.

Several Saints Alive events have been added to the worship guides. Saints Alive is a Grace ministry for adults 55+. Fall events include a fish fry, Mexican food fiesta, and trips to Dallas & San Antonio!

A new Sunday morning group for young families at the University Blvd Campus will start this Sunday at 11am. 

For more information, download the October 4 worship guides or visit the gcc.org calendar.

Their courtship had been talk of the palace.  It was destined to be a song for the world.  The Song of Solomon was chosen as one of the books of sacred Scripture and presents us with snapshots that help capture the movement from the birthing of romance through courtship and the marriage of the king and his bride.  Today’s snapshot reveals their deeper romance has fostered not only a desire to protect their relationship, but also a confidence of belongingness which longs for fulfillment in marriage.

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In this passage we are going to reminisce with Solomon’s wife, all the way back to the beginning of their relationship and take an in-depth look at their relationship. In this passage we see the deepening of their relationship, but the depth comes as a result of Solomon shepherding their relationship. Solomon initiates the addressing of some key areas that will take their relationship to important depths. He will encourage this woman to feel safe with him and she will because she trusts him, and Solomon will lead them to identify and seek to eliminate any foxes (detractors) that might inhibit the growth of their relationship. And finally we will see this woman open up to this man shepherding of their relationship!

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It is so sad to see a couple get married and spend their first few years battling it out and then give up on the relationship. The early years of marriage can be difficult as they discover they have more expectations about marriage than they ever imagined. 

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How natural it is during the dating relationship to eliminate those things that take away from the relationship.  But when marriage happens, those past pests (distractions) are tragically welcomed as pets.  Take the priorities of the past and build them into the priorities of the present.

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Want to know what's going on at Grace? Check out this week's worship guide for more information on these and other opportunities.

Junior High Students - It's not too late to register for the Pine Cove Retreat, October 2-4. Contact Mickey, Chris, or Jarrett to sign up!

Want to get connected to Grace through membership? There are membership classes offered this fall in Athens and Lindale.

Saints Alive (a Grace ministry for adults 55+) is getting on the road. October 15 they are headed to the State Fair in Dallas and a San Antonio trip is planned for December.

Mark your calendars now for an evening with author and speaker Josh McDowell, November 5. Grace Community School is hosting this event. Tickets go on sale October 1.

He was the king of their great nation; she, his chosen bride.  Their love was blossoming like the flowers in the palace garden.  Their love had been the talk of the court.  It was destined to be a song for the world.  So ideal was their romance and love that the song about them was chosen as one of the books of sacred Scripture.  The Song of Solomon is a book of snapshots that help capture the movement from the birthing of romance through courtship and the marriage of the king and his bride.  Today’s snapshots continue the development of their courtship and reveals the steady movement toward their marriage.

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In this passage we are going to reminisce with Solomon’s wife, all the way back to the beginning of their relationship and take an in-depth look at their relationship growing into a safe harbor where she experiences gentleness, edification, affirmation, purity, growing esteem, trust, honor, and deep intimacy. And Solomon experiences respect and the depths of intimacy.

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What is happening with increasing frequency is the ‘Runaway Bride’ syndrome, where women are leaving their husbands because their husbands have stopped treating them as valuable possessions.  Take the vows of the past and make them the vows of the present.

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The security filled relationship begins with my desire to love God more than myself.  When I love HIM, I love my spouse.  Why is that?  Because in order to love my wife I can’t love myself the most.  I have to love her more than myself. 

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Junior High students are preparing for an exciting weekend retreat at Pine Cove. You won't want to miss the games, horseback riding, zip lines, skits, and the chance to grow in your relationship with Jesus.

Membership classes will be offered in Lindale and Tyler for those who are interested in connecting to Grace through membership.

Download this week's worship guides for details on these and many more opportunities.

The Song of Solomon has been referred to as perhaps the most difficult and mysterious book in the entire Bible.  The history of the Song’s diverse interpretation opinions is unequaled in the study of any other biblical work.  Our study will look through the lenses of the poet of our song as having arranged several snapshots in order to tell the story of the movement of the courtship of the king and his bride.  In the coming weeks, we’ll be looking together at these different snapshots and seeing what we can learn from them in our own relationships.  This first snapshot captures the birth of their romance!

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Often neglected, the Book of Song of Solomon offer God’s design for love, marriage, and romance.  Today we will be reminded of the important ingredients of attraction that lead to a healthy marriage.

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As we begin the study we notice that Solomon is called the author but that at the very least his wife was a co-contributor. God inspired Solomon to write these words. As we read the interaction between Solomon and his wife we see the importance of attraction. Solomon and his wife were seeking to be attractive, not seeking someone who is attractive. What are you doing?

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Click Jane Does Video Announcements.

Want to get connected at Grace? There are a couple of great opportunities happening in September:

If you want to connect to a community group, come this Sunday evening, September 13, to meet leaders and find out more about community groups.

If you would like to connect with Grace by becoming a member, the next membership class will be Saturday, September 26. Come learn the history of Grace Community Church, what we value as a church body, the various ministries we offer and how you can be empowered to serve in the giftings the Lord has given you. Brunch will be provided.

This Sunday, September 13, we will be launching an online spiritual life survey called "Reveal." On Sunday September 13th AND Sunday September 20th a FREE WIFI network will be available on your campus to make spiritual life survey participation simple and easy.  Please feel free to bring your portable electronic device or laptop and take the survey while at church on these two Sundays.

For all the details on these and other opportunities, download the September 13th worship guides here.

A consumer mentality needs to be avoided in our walk with God, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t to live in and enjoy the benefits of a relationship with God. We will see that there is a great benefit from living according to God’s will that is revealed in his word.

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Want to get connected at Grace? There are a couple of great opportunities happening in September:

If you want to connect to a community group, come Sunday evening, September 13, to meet leaders and find out more about community groups.

If you would like to connect with Grace by becoming a member, the next membership class will be Saturday, September 26. Come learn the history of Grace Community Church, what we value as a church body, the various ministries we offer and how you can be empowered to serve in the giftings the Lord has given you. Brunch will be provided.

Sunday, September 13, we will be launching an online spiritual life survey called "Reveal." On Sunday September 13th AND Sunday September 20th a FREE WIFI network will be available on your campus to make spiritual life survey participation simple and easy.  Please feel free to bring your portable electronic device or laptop and take the survey while at church on these two Sundays.

For all the details on these and other opportunities, download the September 6th worship guides here.

Special thanks to two very talented young adults who work in video, photography, print and design. 

• Lucas Kitchen (www.themediakitchen.tv)
• Kendal Lowe (www.kalsimage.com)  

Did you miss the Marriage Encounter or you can't remember what was covered that night because you laughed so hard. Click on the link below and listen to the audio file of Michael & Amy Smalley's message on being a "Love Magnet".

Pass it on to your friends.

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Part 1

Part 2

If you want the Word to be an active effective part of your life you have to be willing to consider how it applies to your life. You must be willing to face your failures,flaws and your heart.  If we are unwilling to consider your life in light of the Word of God then the Word is just a moral story that gives no power or direction in our lives.  

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