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Local Church Involvement

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Z quotes Carlos Griego:

Telling people that being part of the local church is optional for the health of the Christian, is like telling a married couple they can replace living together with being friends on Facebook to grow closer and become One as God intends.

Good insight. And as we progress through Colossians, we are seeing that God is at work to renew us as a body in the image of the creator, conforming us to Christ. This new man being renewed is a corporate body of believers as the subsequent commands show. Let’s show Christ is all and in all (Colossians 3:11) by not treating our involvement in the local church as an optional thing.

To Worship Teams: Are We Growing?

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…so asks Michael Bleecker, pastor for worship at the Village Church in an email he sent to his musicians and vocalists last week. The blog post explores the following:
Are we growing in godliness?
Bleecker urges his team to be godly people at the outset.
Are we growing in preparedness?
In exploring this question, Bleecker urges timeliness in rehearsals, among other things as helping his team be prepared.
Are we growing in our gifting; are we improving?
This section began with a call to improve in ear, timing and creativity, but then branched out in ways that we could improve if we are: vocalists, guitar players, drummers or keyboard players, including lots of links to helpful places on the web.
Are we serving for the right reasons and in the right ministry?
This question’s explanation was filled with much grace as Bleecker urged his team to not be misplaced if God would choose to use them elsewhere, as well as exhorting those who are called to serve to continue sacrificing for the glory of God.

It was really a helpful post. So, read it but better yet, answer the question honestly: are we growing?

Weekend Recap – Jesus, Sin and the Law

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Well, another Sunday has come and gone, by God’s grace.

In the AM, we looked at Colossians 3:8-10 in a sermon entitled Put Away Sin. We saw three truths, specifically, in seeking to deal with sin:
1) We must deal with it urgently
2) Sin makes us look life how we were before Christ
3) Our new self is being renewed by God and conformed to Christ
As we seek to practice this, there is much reason to hope, because of passages like Titus 2:11-14 and the work that God is accomplishing in His children to renew them.

In the PM, springing out of Exodus 20:1-20, we saw how the 10 Commandments really point to Jesus (the sermon’s title was Jesus and the Ten Commandments). Jesus perfectly embodied what God wanted to accomplish in the Law, establishing a people that live for Him. We can’t keep the Law, but in the new covenant, we are changed to be enabled to obey. To put it simply, the 10 Commandments drive us to find our hope in Jesus and the Gospel.

I hope you had a great Lord’s Day. Let’s live out the truth of what we’ve seen.

DeYoung on The Church

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I would highly recommend your listening to Kevin DeYoung’s sermon from Next entitled “The Church.” Here’s a summary from C.J. that came across my feed reader recently:

To close out his Next 2010 conference message, “The Church,” Kevin DeYoung gave a list of suggestions for how to be a difference maker in the local church. He said:

• Find a good local church.
• Get involved.
• Become a member.
• Stay there as long as you can.
• Put away thoughts of a revolution for a while.
• Join the plodding visionaries.
• Go to church this Sunday and worship in Spirit and truth.
• Be patient with your leaders.
• Rejoice when the gospel is faithfully proclaimed.
• Bear with those who hurt you.
• Give people the benefit of the doubt.
• Say “hi” to the teenager that no one notices.
• Welcome the old ladies with the blue hair and the young men with tattoos.
• Volunteer for the nursery.
• Attend the congregational meeting.
• Bring your fried chicken to the potluck like everybody else.
• Invite a friend.
• Take a new couple out for coffee.
• Give to the Christmas offering.
• Sing like you mean it.
• Be thankful someone vacuumed the carpet for you.
• Enjoy the Sundays that “click.”
• Pray extra hard on the Sundays that don’t.
• And in all of this, do not despise the days and weeks and years of small things (Zechariah 4:8–10).

I cannot recommend this message too highly. Please take time to download and listen to “The Church” by visiting the resource page at thisisnext.org.

I would whole-heartedly agree. Many times when people listen to or give a message on the church, it can seem like a rah-rah message at how people need to do what their pastors say. But this message is very even-handed showing that even weak leaders need followers who are interested in bigger things than their own shallow, capricious ideals. This is the stunning reality we see in Scripture about Jesus’ bride, the church. Listen, be profitable and glorify God.

#3 – 1st Pic

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Meg and I spent yesterday at the doctor’s office and this is the first picture we got of baby #3, tentatively due on February 22nd. We are excited, overwhelmed and experiencing all kinds of marveling at how God has again granted us conception. Please be praying for Meg as she hasn’t been feeling too hot (typical 1st trimester stuff) and for the health of the baby as he/she develops. We were already able to get that heartbeat, a healthy 168 bpm. At any rate, I knew some of you would be interested in the pic.

Killing Sin?…Good…Remember the next verses…

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I hope you were encouraged and moved to action by the Holy Spirit as you heard yesterday’s sermon, Kill Sin, from Colossians 3:5-7. I’ve already gotten some emails from people this morning demonstrating fruit from yesterday’s emphasis. They realize their weakness and want to make headway in pursuing godliness.

It’s so easy, though, to drift into self-righteousness when we are putting our killing sin into practice. How do I know this is a tendency? Because of what comes out of my mouth. Paul must have realized this too, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he continues in Colossians 3:8-10:

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

It is out of the heart that the mouth speaks. And what comes out of our mouth (or emails, twitter feeds, voicemails, blogs) can either demonstrate what we are putting away or putting on. Therefore, as you speak this week, remember to speak in a way that is not full of anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, or lying to one another. These things are incompatible with someone killing sin. But let’s be characterized by speaking truth to one another in ways that build up for edification. This will show that we are putting on the new self and, indeed, being renewed in knowledge after the image of our Creator. He’s the One we want to live for anyway. Remember this, then, as you seek to put into practice killing sin: put away speaking in a way that’s not helpful.

Weekend Recap – Kill Sin

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Today’s sermon, Kill Sin, from Colossians 3:5-7 is online. I felt refreshed in the pulpit with much liberty and thought we had a great morning. We sang songs that boasted in what God has done to save us. We looked into God’s Word and found that our hope must be in nothing other than Jesus. Our position in Him enables us to kill sin.

The applications for believers were:
1) Remember your position – we can’t fight sin apart from who we are in Christ
2) Remember your calling – we are called to kill sin, not delay its execution
3) Get help – We have both the Holy Spirit and the local church to help us in killing the sin in our lives. Let’s avail ourselves to them.

Weekend Preview – Kill Sin!

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This coming Lord’s Day, we hope to gather and look at Colossians 3:5-7. The call is to put to death what is earthly among you. Here’s a quote for Sinclair Ferguson in his excellent book, The Christian Life:

“What then is the killing of sin? It is the constant battle against sin which we fight daily – the refusal to allow the eye to wander, the mind to contemplate, the affections to run after anything which will draw us from Christ. It is the deliberate rejection of any sinful thought, suggestion, desire, aspiration, deed, circumstance or provocation at the moment we become conscious of its existence. It is the consistent endeavor to do all in our powers to weaken the grip which sin in general, and its manifestations in our lives in particular, has. It is not accomplished only by saying ‘no’ to what is wrong, but by a determined acceptance of all the good and spiritually-nourishing disciplines of the gospel. It is by resolutely weeding the garden of the heart, and also by planting, watering and nurturing Christian graces there, that putting sin to death will take place. Not only must we slay the noxious weeds of sin, but we must see that the flowers of grace are sucking up the nourishment of the Spirit’s presence in our hearts. Only when those hearts are so full of grace will less room exist for sin to breathe and flourish.”

Let’s come this Lord’s Day anticipating God’s movement among us to glorify Himself in our killing sin.

Good Questions to Ask Yourself…

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I found these three from Justin Buzzard:

God has given you a life and he wants you to steward it well. This involves choices. How will you best steward the gifting, personality, resources, and opportunities God has given you?

Most of us reading this know we need to make some changes in order to best invest (instead of bury) the “talents” God has given us. But we often don’t know how to discern what changes to make. I think we often make this process too complicated. Here’s one simple way of diagnosing how you’re stewarding the life God has given you. Ask yourself these 3 questions. And ask a few people who love you to give you their input on these questions.

1. What is the one thing you are now doing that you think you should continue doing? (This should target towards your greatest strength)
2. What is the one thing you are now doing that you think you should stop doing? (This should target towards your greatest liability/time waster/sin/way of harming others/etc.)
3. What is one thing you are not now doing that you think you should start doing? (This should target toward your greatest opportunity/untapped potential/a big new risk)

The other questions were from a seminar entitled Watch Your Planning by Mike Bullmore:

Is there something I have a godly desire for in my life?
Is there something God’s been stirring me to address or change?
Are there some things in my life that are not the way I’d like them to be? (these are at the 1:02:15 mark)

Ask these questions, then, and see where God might lead you.