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Weekend Wrap Up – Scripture Memory…

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Yesterday’s AM sermon, Indwelling Word, from Colossians 3:16 is online. After our Week of Prayer, we take time to consider how God’s Word can be a part of our lives each year and this year, we decided to launch a Scripture Memory Program church wide. We hoped that our lives individually, our lives in families and our life as a corporate body would all benefit. It was exciting to see how people grabbed onto this. We ran out of books (which meant over 1/2 of our congregation will be involved in this). Here’s what I wrote to introduce the book:

As a church, we are embarking on a new emphasis here. Beginning Sunday, January 10, 2010, we will be seeking to memorize a verse of Scripture each week. All of our publications will use the ESV, since that is the translation we use in the pulpit ministry of Crestview.

This emphasis comes for a few reasons:
1) We want to be characterized by widespread Scripture memory together. As God’s Word is hidden in our hearts, the spiritual benefits we can pursue collectively will undoubtedly multiply.
2) We wanted a simple way to promote family worship. By encouraging our people to be hovering over a particular verse each week, we will be encouraging families to be hiding God’s Word in their hearts together.
3) We wanted to create a simple way to deepen relationships we have with one another in spiritual ways. When you get together for coffee, to exercise, for fellowship or study, we can simply ask, “Do you know this week’s verse?” and be able to transition into spiritual discussions.
4) God’s Word being hidden in our hearts should help us fight against sin week in and week out.
5) Many of us believe this is a great thing, but we need a plan. We are implementing a plan, then, to help us remain disciplined in this.

Dallas Willard has said, “Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our mind with what it needs. The book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That’s where you need it. How does it get in your mouth? Memorization.”

It is in this spirit, then, that the Elders recommend this pursuit to you. May it inspire you and encourage you to glorify and enjoy God, forever.

I hope you have a great week storing up God’s Word in your heart. (Our verse for this first week is Genesis 1:1.)

The Gospel Brings You Into “A New Family”

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…so says Tullian Tchividjian:

“You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,” Paul said. In other words, when God adopts us, we not only gain a Father, we gain a whole new family: the Church. The biblical word for “church” does not mean a building or institution, it means “the called out ones.” It refers to those whom God calls out of slavery and into sonship. The Church, in other words, is people: people adopted by God, people who know God as their heavenly Father. When God saves sinners he saves them into a whole new community — the “family of God.” As Frank Colquhoun wrote in his book Total Christianity, “When Christ saves a man he not only saves him from his sin, he saves him from his solitude.” He brings us into meaningful fellowship with others who will help us along the way in our relationship with God. [a meditation from Tullian’s book Do I Know God?]

This theme of adoption is a key component of our Week of Prayer emphasis. I hope you are encouraged today by what God has done to give us access to Himself in prayer.

Wrap Up on Prayer

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Today’s sermon, which was overview from Colossians on Prayer, is now online. This sermon helped to serve our church by kicking off the Week of Prayer. We were encouraged to pray:

– gratefully
– for growth
– for the Gospel’s progress
and – with discipline

I was encouraged by the example of Epaphras in Colossians 4:12, who of whom it was said his prayers were striving for the growth of others. I hope you practice prayer this week and you are encouraged to depend on God for all things in 2010.

Bible Reading Plans

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I’ve had a couple people contact me about Bible Reading Plans.

Please go to Justin Taylor’s helpful summary to find one that suits your needs.

I just saw online that the Gospel Coalition has started a daily devotional from D.A. Carson, which is the one I used in 2008-2009.

For what it’s worth, this year I will be using the Discipleship Journal Plan. This year I’m hoping to spend more time in Scripture Memory and this plan frees up 5 days a month to use. You also read in OT, Psalms, NT Gospel and NT. Allow God’s Word to settle in you in 2010.

Update…

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I guess some of you see that there has been a break in the blogging for me. We left Christmas Day and drove through the historic midwestern snow storm last week. Pretty uneventful trip and ended up here at my Mom’s safely. I’ve had pretty relaxing days all in all. We went to her church on Sunday and have been shopping for some post Christmas bargains. Yesterday, worked on my Mom’s clothes dryer for a bit. Today, helping her take down Christmas decor. Oh, we also finished a 1000 piece puzzle. Watched some movies as well. That’s about it. I anticipate the week gaining speed as we return home later this week and get back in the swing of things here soon.

Merry Christmas

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May your day be filled with praise to Jesus for His coming and taking on human flesh so that we might be redeemed far as the curse is found. Let’s praise God today for the Gospel! Here’s a link to listen to or download Advent Songs by Sojourn Music:

The song “Glory Be” is my favorite.
At the height of the song, we hear:

Hallelujah, the Lord of life has come
To reconcile the nations to their God
Hallelujah, he’s coming back again
To finish what began in Bethlehem.

This is what we celebrate today.

Adopted as a Son…

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Holiday break is fast approaching and as we think about Jesus coming to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21), I am going to take Justin Buzzard’s challenge. He recommends we work through this chart this holiday to remind ourselves of the truth that in Christ, we are sons and daughters of God:

He links to a longer version of this chart and while you’re on that page, download Gospel Encouragement to Cheer Up (2nd from the top). (We will be using World Harvest Misson’s Gospel Centered Life curriculum in small groups this Winter.)

I’ll close with an amazing quote from the Gospel Encouragement to Cheer Up article and see if your heart isn’t better stirred to praise Jesus:

The gospel is the best news we could ever hear. The gospel is about Jesus Christ and his power to transform our lives and relationships, communities, and ultimately, the nations. Through this gospel, we are freely given a new identity—an identity not based on race, social class, gender, a theological system, or a system of rules and regulations. Rather it is a new and perfect identity based solely on faith in Christ, an identity that defines every aspect of our lives. We are now forgiven, righteous, adopted, accepted, free, and heirs to everything that belongs to Christ. So even our sin, weakness, and failures do not define who we are. Because of this good news, we no longer have to hide from our sin and imagine that we have it all together, for God knows and loves us as we are, not as we pretend to be.

May you spend this Christmas season honoring the Savior who accomplished these very things for you in His life, death and resurrection.

How Well Are You Using Your Time (Really!)…

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As the year winds down here, I have been thinking about how busy I’ve been in a recent season and considering what adjustments need to be made and where and I came across a helpful tool that I used in years previous to think about this. Check out this Pastor’s Accountability Form from Desiring God. I appreciate how this tool gets at more than just “so what’d you do?” to the deeper heart issues of thoughts, energy level, feelings, rest, Bible memory, family, integrity, eating and exercise. I commend it to all of you to use.