Happy Hanukkah

What's Christmas All About, Anyway?

by Ruth Bell Graham

This is the Christmas season--a time for giving and receiving gifts. And for weeks now you have probably been working on your gift list and shopping, shopping, shopping.

But in this final rush before Christmas perhaps you don't care anymore. Perhaps love is dead. Or your children are beyond your influence. Or you have no children. Perhaps something has happened, and now you find no joy or meaning to your life anymore. Perhaps the most you look for is some temporary form of escape. Maybe you can't give anything. There's nothing left to give. Or there's no one left to give to.

Listen! What's Christmas all about anyway? Wasn't there a death, an emptiness, a need? Wasn't there a Love somewhere--infinite, eternal, unchangeable--a Love that gave His only  Son away?

That's what Christmas is all about: God coming to earth in the Person of the Christ Child to do for you and for me what we cannot possibly do for ourselves. Jesus lived among us and had the same kinds of problems that we do.

You haven't a problem--and I haven't a problem--that He doesn't understand from close personal experience. He spent His entire life meeting human needs. He died on the cross to deal once and for all with our greatest need--the sin problem. Just before ascending to heaven, the risen Christ gave this glorious promise: "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). That's what Christmas is all about.

While Jesus was here on earth, He invited people to come to Him: tired people, bad people, good people, bewildered people, laborers, revolutionaries, cheats, bigots ... it is the Invitation of the Ages. Just as people went to Jesus 2,000 years ago, today we still come to Jesus that same way: just as we are.

Our only credentials: our need. This Christmas, God is asking you to come to Him. You with your failures, your sins, your problems, your fears. You. This is Christmas. Redemption's glorious exchange of gifts!

God is loving, searching, giving Himself-- to us. People are needing, finding, giving ourselves to God. This is the meaning of Christmas. This is the wonder and the glory of it all.

You can come to God this Christmas, or anytime, by praying a simple prayer like this:

Dear God, I confess to You the emptiness in my heart, the selfishness of my thoughts, the fear in my spirit, and the sinfulness in my life. I'm so sorry. I know it was for me--and because of me--that Jesus died. Please forgive me of all my sins. Thank You for Jesus, who accepts me as I am. I come to You now, ready to spend eternity in heaven with You. Thank You for giving me Jesus! Amen

A few days from now

A FEW DAYS FROM NOW .. GATEWAY PREGNANCY CENTER WILL BE NEEDED MORE THAN EVER! 

No matter who becomes the 45th. President of the United States, Gateway will continue bring the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ and help during a crisis pregnancy to thousands of lives. Your help NOW will ensure that this needed help will continue.

As we approach a season of Thanksgiving, you can help Gateway reach even more lives. A simple 'click' below can supply Gateway with needed funds to reach even more than the 150 women we reach monthly.

https://give.cornerstone.cc/Gateway+Pregnancy+Center/

Check out our latest newsletter as well! 

    

4 days and 11 hours from now..



Gateway Pregnancy Center will be needed more than ever!
 

Thank you to all who placed an ad in our recent 2016 Banquet Journal. 

It is now online at:

https://www.scribd.com/document/329793644/Banquet-Journal-2016-in-Color

Real Abundant Life Begins with Jesus

A response to the following article: My thoughts in RED

Why “Pro-Life” Is A Harmful Misnomer / @JenniferGBird  / 10/6/16

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-g-bird/why-prolife-is-a-harmful-_b_12367774.html

..there is so much on the line. 

Yes. On the line are two lives (the mother and the baby) A baby is not a potential life. Q: At what point is the baby alive? God has answered this question:

Genesis 4:1,17, Deuteronomy 32:18, Psalm 51:5-6, Psalm 119:73, Psalm 139:13-16,

2 Samuel 11:5, Hosea 9:11, Matthew 1:18, Luke 1:15, 31, 41,43-44, Galatians 1:15

Death in the womb (in order to have death in the womb, there first had to be life!)

Job 10:18, Jeremiah 1:5, Jeremiah 20:17, for Further Study

·        God forms life:  Psalm 119:73; Psalm 127:3; Psalm 139:13-16;

·        God knows man intimately: Job 10; Psalm 139; Isaiah 49:1,5:

·        Related Scripture: Genesis 4:1,17; 21:2; 29:32-35; 30:5, 19, 23; 38:3-4

·        Penalty for death of the pre born - Exodus 21:22-23 (compare with Exodus 20:13 and Genesis 9:6)

• Human sacrifice MUST ALWAYS be condemned - Leviticus 20:2-5
•  

What I would like to respectfully suggest is that the “Pro-Life” conversation about how to handle an unplanned pregnancy ought to include more than just the life of the fetus.  

 It does. It includes the risks of abortion to the woman. The increase risk for future miscarriages (25% of women cannot carry to term after one abortion due to cervical tears), the increase in breast cancer after abortion (380% increase for African American women after one abortion), the relationship with the baby’s father (70% breakup in 30 days, 95% in two years)

Of course the fetus is living, and can be given the time to develop into a viable, vibrant child (if all goes well).  

Biblically, as well as biologically, the unborn is alive and a person at the moment of conception  

But the fetus is not the only living thing in this equation.

I have listened to many “Pro-Lifers” give their understandably passionate reasons why they are against terminating a pregnancy. But I have yet to hear any of them talk about the life of the mother as a factor.  

A visit to a crisis pregnancy center like Gateway would help folks see that the woman’s life is the focus. Everything that we do centers around the woman’s entire life experience, including her physical, mental and spiritual health. 

Removing the humanity of the unborn from the discussion reduces John 10:10 to Jesus supplying our ‘wants’ but neglects the focus of the verse ‘our needs’. Women deserve better.         

          

Jesus fully understands women and knows that the ‘short fix’ solution enslaves them to lives of guilt, physical pain and the consequences of a ‘poor, uninformed choice’.

It seems to me that caring about these questions qualify as being “pro-life”:

• Is the woman (& her partner, if applicable) financially stable?
• Does she have the means to have good pre-natal health care?
• Does she have the finances to be able to feed a child, clothe a child, provide health care and all the other things needed to rear a child well and safely?
• Is she in a personal situation to be able to make room for this child in her life?
• Is it her desire to have a child?
• Is bringing a child into the world right now the best thing for her and her contributions to society? 

All of these are circumstantial and situational. Focusing on the above questions leaves out the real needs women have. 

Fulfillment of our desire when it conflicts with God’s intentions dooms us to consequences. Women have been bearing the consequences of uninformed choices for decades. 

Those who perform abortions (almost exclusively men) love the argument that a woman’s autonomy is the focus. This allows for the neglect of the real after-effects of abortion on a woman’s mind and heart. 

A woman’s true needs, physically and spiritually are the concern of a loving God.

When the conversation is focused solely on the potential life of the fetus, what is being implied is that women really are, first and foremost, baby-makers.  

The implication of baby-makers is a great ‘talking point’ that deflects the conversation away from a woman’s real needs, allowing her often to be a fulfiller of a man’s (“I’m not ready to be a father”, “Abort this one and we will have another one when we’re ready”)

Please take a moment to think about that, if you haven’t before.

I am not trying to deny the role that women have in perpetuating the human species, not at all. I am simply saying that only talking about the fetus in this conversation completely overlooks important, quite relevant factors in the life of the woman, all of which is relevant to the quality of life for all involved.

Quality of life for the woman MUST include her spiritual, mental and physical health. 

If we can allow the factors of the woman’s life and situation to be a part of determining whether it is desirable, or even ethical, to let a pregnancy continue, then we are taking seriously what Jesus is attributed with saying, in John 10:10. “I came [into the world] that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” 

The implication of following this reasoning forces the woman to make ethical choices that have disastrous consequences not only for her child but her own life. 

The one who promised ‘life’ in John 10:10 offers spiritual life, but the presumption is that physical life is not sacrificed to achieve it; otherwise, our faith is man-made, man-centered.

I am pro-choice because I am pro-life, in the bigger picture sense. The bigger picture must go beyond personal freedom of choice to moral responsibility that leads to decisions consistent with the life promised by Jesus.

https://issuu.com/deangavaris/docs/you_may_be_prolife_but

The Clock is Ticking!  

                         Gateway Pregnancy Centers 31^st.
                              Annual Stewardship Dinner
                                             Thursday October 27, 2016
                                       (7:00-9:00pm)  at
                       The Gran Centurion in Clark, NJ

Our banquet theme

This is AmazingGrace

                                      

..because there's an urgency to get the gospel to as many as possible as soon as possible!

View a one minute Banquet promotional video

                     All proceeds benefit the gospel ministry of
                                 Gateway Pregnancy Center
                                     (Irvington – Elizabeth)

You will hear testimonies by men and women impacted by the ministry.
 
You will be blessed with music to stir your soul and challenge your spirit:
                                                        

Our Board Chairman, Rev. Michael Westbrook  (pictured above with his wife Maria) will be the master of ceremonies for the evening. Check out the Greater Life Community Outreach Center's website.

Each year we present an award to 'The Friend of Gateway'  (we call it the Andy Andersen Memorial Award) 

                                                                             

The 2016 award goes to... 

(To be announced on October 27th. at the dinner)
               

The banquet is $30.00 per person.  There will be an opportunity given for a freewill offering and monthly giving.

Advanced reservations must be made.

Please return payment and the reservation form to Gateway at P.O. Box Box 1893, Union, NJ 07083

For information: (973) 399-8378

log on to:  www.gateway.org and checkout our BLOG for further details and directions. 

Call us at 973-399-8378 or email dean@gateway.org 

for further details.

Banquet Location:  Grand Centurions  

440 Madison Hill Road, Clark NJ 07066

732-382-1664    

Please scroll down for directions or click here

The Gran Centurions is located just 3 minutes from Exit 135 off the Garden State Parkway, and just 7 minutes from downtown Westfield & Rahway.

The Gran Centurions can seat up to

450 in their beautiful Colonnade Room

 

Reservations are available by advance notice only !!!

                                                                                      

               How To Make Reservations   

Please return the form below with your check to:

Gateway Pregnancy Center

P.O. Box 1793, Union, NJ  07083

Prayerfully consider giving at the banquet. You will be challenged to help Gateway meet our 
budget and project success for 2017

Clip and return with your reservation:

                              ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I wish to make a significant difference at Banquet 2016
_____   I  / we plan to attend and enclose $30.00 per person
             Please list your guests names and addresses when making reservations
______ I cannot attend, but wish to give  a special stewardship gift of:

______$5,000  _____$2,000   ______$1,000  ____$500                 ______   $250    ______  other ______ $20 per month pledge  _______   $50 per month pledge
Name: _____________________________________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________________________________

City ________________________________State_____________Zip___________________

Telephone: (             )  ____________________email:_____________________________

  mail to:   Gateway Pregnancy Centers, Inc.         P.O. Box 1793, Union, NJ  07083 

             Website: www.gateway.org  dean@gateway.org      

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please pray as to how you will participate in the freewill offering to be taken that evening.

Again, the dinner is $30.00 per person. There will be an opportunity given for a freewill offering and monthly giving.

Can't make it?  Please give online! 
 
 Since 1985, Gateway Pregnancy Center and the former, Archway Pregnancy Center have helped over 32,970  women in a crisis  pregnancy, seeing 4,408 babies known born and most importantly, over  3,474 trusting Christ as Savior and Lord!

The Gospel ministry of Gateway has had the opportunity to share Christ with women who otherwise may never enter a church building.

Services offered by the Gateway ministry include pregnancy testing, boyfriend / husband counseling on responsibility, free infant clothes and supplies, maternity clothes, baby furniture, post abortion counseling, church, high school, college, radio and television speaking opportunities, internet counseling and various contacts with the FBI and other parts of the judicial system.

All services are free of charge and strictly confidential. 

If you have a ‘smart phone’ check out our promotional video on YouTube and follow us on Facebook!

or follow us on Twitter  email us with any questions

Check out our latest Gateway Today newsletter

Gateway’s services are made possible only through church missions giving and individual gifts and pledges.

As a 501 c-3 non-profit, we receive no funds from the government.

We are dependent upon the Lord through Gods people.

Check out these other Gateway videos:

You Tube: Compassion in ministry Do You Feel The Need?

The Harder Truth Promo for Pastors by Rev. Dean Gavaris

Consider giving to Gateway online

We hope to see you on  October 27th.

Check out the Gateway website www.gateway.org

 Directions to the Gran Centurions

440 Madison Hill Road, Clark, NJ  07066   

Telephone: 732-382-1664

From the south: Garden St Pkwy to exit 135, stay straight to the traffic light and make a right. At your second exit make a right.   The hotel is on the left. 

From the north: Garden St Pkwy to exit 135, go straight to the second traffic light and make a left. Go through the next light and take the second exit to the right. The hotel will be on the left  (Valley Road).

Consider placing an ad in our 2016  Banquet Journal for your church, your business, your prayer group, yourself   or in honor or memory of a loved one.. (see below)

The deadline for ads is Wednesday October 19, 2016

Click on the downloadable materials

Banquet Tri-Fold Brochure

Banquet Journal Response Form 2016

Banquet 2016 flyer for posting