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Weekend Preview – Word & Creation

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This coming Lord’s Day, 12/4, we hope to return to John 1:3-5 and pick up where we left off last week.   Last week, we saw in John 1:1-2 that the Eternal Word is God and has existed in a personal relationship to the Father forever.  This week, though, we transition to see how this Word came near to us.  Specifically, if He was there in creation, how does He relate us.  The sermon will unfold how Jesus is related to creation as Creator, Life-Giver and Evil-Conquering Head.

There’s a reason that Revelation 3:14 announces that the message to that church was from “The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.”  We all owe our existence to Christ. We truly live to the degree that we function in this reality.  Come hungry this Sunday to see the greatness of Jesus Christ, the Word, as He relates to His creation.

Gospel Balance & Growth

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I’ve been one of those Gospel-Centered guys for a few years now, meaning that I see Jesus on every page of the Bible and believe that the Gospel is the message of first importance.  I’m preached hard against the cold, lifeless and sometimes dead religious works that many do simply out of duty.  When my work on earth is done, I want the greatness of Jesus and not something else to be the motto of all that I was about.

Therefore, I was greatly helped recently by a post on the Biblical Counseling Coalition by Stuart Scott.  The post is entitled Gaining A Balanced Picture on God’s Counsel.  Trying to summarize an article that is so excellent is very difficult.  But, what I would say is, if you’ve ever wondered how being Gospel-centered helps inform your living out the Christian life or if you’ve ever felt a tension in being about the Gospel and “disciplining your life for the purpose of godliness,” then this article is for you.  I can’t recommend it highly enough.  There’s a MS Word version and a PDF available.

I hope it helps you as much as it did me.

Weekend Recap – 11/27/11

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My sermon, The Word, from John 1:1-2 is online.  The sermon sought to show how Jesus, the Word became flesh, has always existed in personal relationship to the Father and is God.  It was a message that should give good theological support structure to those amazing promises we love about how God will never leave us or forsake us.  I hope it was encouraging.

In the evening, our church gathered to Hang the Greens.  Always a good time of fellowship and service, we enjoyed time with other people in the church.

Sunday Preview – 11/27/11

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This coming Lord’s Day, we will jumping into John 1:1-2 and seeing 3 truths about Jesus.  In prepping this sermon, I was remembering how well-served we have been through Athanasius.  Here’s some background articles on him and a link to the Athanasian Creed.  We come this Sunday to worship Jesus, fully God and fully man, born to save us from our sins.  Come ready to look heavenward.

Gospel Centeredness For The Rest of Us…

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Many of you know that I’ve been hugely affected by all things Gospel.  I love the Gospel.  It is the message of first importance to me.  I want to be a Gospel man.  I want it to be continually shaping and forming me.  I’ve often preached against having a disciplined quiet time as a means for being accepted in God’s sight, which has probably left my loving congregation scratching their heads wondering, “Well, then, why even discipline yourself for godliness…?”  Therefore, it was with great joy that I found this article by Stuart Scott this week.

It’s entitled Gaining a Balanced Picture on God’s Counsel.

In this article, he balances the struggle we have to engage the heart or discipline ourselves and shows how important the Gospel foundation and its proper application can prove in the discussion.  I would highly commend this article as a great means to help us in thinking toward a more Biblical way in all things Gospel-centered.  Enjoy.

Weekend Recap – Gratitude…

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My sermon from 11/20/11AM entitled On Faith & Gratitude from Luke 17:11-19 is now online.  I know it was risky to preach on Gospel heart change on Thanksgiving week, but this passage seems to bring home the truth of what faith is and what it produces.

I would love for you to go deeper and noticed this post this AM by Paul Tautges entitled The Attitude of Gratitude: A Bible Study Suggestion.  It might be a wonderful devotional on the AM of Thanksgiving Day.

In the evening our church gathered and celebrated all that God’s done for us this past year.  Hope you had a great Lord’s Day as well.

Hope for the Grieving…

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I’ve had a busy few weeks with a couple of dear ladies passing on to glory and being privileged to serve the families.  Thinking about some of what I’ve said and will say in the coming week I was encouraged by these verses from Isaiah 43:

But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you;    I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;   and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,   and the flame shall not consume you. 3For I am the LORD your God,   the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Truly God is good.  Knowing that He is near us is sometimes all that sustains us in these times.  Jesus promised us that He is the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in Him, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Him shall never die (John 11:25-26).  Today, no matter where you are, rest in this truth and find comfort from the heart of heaven.  

Weekend Preview – Faith/Gratitude

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This coming Lord’s Day, we plan to move to a Thanksgiving emphasis and I hope to preach from Luke 17:11-19.  We know the story.  10 lepers are healed but only one returns to give thanks.  I want to marinade in this passage Sunday so that we can see how faith and gratitude work together.

Here’s Bridges commenting in Respectable Sins on this, which led me to go after this text again:

We read this story (Luke 17:11-19) and we think, “How could those nine men be so ungrateful as to not even turn back and say a word of thanks to Jesus?” And yet far too many of us are guilty of the same sin of unthankfulness.

Maybe this is you (I know I’m included).  Let’s embrace God’s Word for the means of grace it is, receive the Holy Spirit’s ministry of exalting Christ and let our faith demonstrate gratitude, to the glory of God.