The most fundamental task of a mother and father is to show God to the children. Children know their parents before they know God. This is a huge responsibility and should cause every parent to be desperate for God-like transformation. ---STOP-----
The rest of the brief post is great, read it here... but

Desperate for God-like transformation... that is what I am (objectively) and what--from desire standpoint-- I am so little of the time. Yet, as my children grow... so does my understanding of how much I NEED TO BE TRANSFORMED. Et toi?

Using the Bible to Keep Your Heart Near God

That will be the theme of my message Sunday.

A thousand interesting things compete for our attention to the Word of God. I confess that after fifty years of loving and reading and memorizing Scripture, I can be lured away from... the Word by something as insignificant as a new computer device. The illusory pleasure of newness can temporarily trump the far superior benefits of .... the Word of God. -- John Piper

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith in his excellent word!

Moving From Burden to Blessing

Our staff tries to regularly "get out of the office" to get some work done... for multiple reasons. One of those is the opportunity to bump into normal folks and perhaps put our ear to the ground.

Today I had a wonderful 5 minute discussion with a business owner in Tioga who said, "I'm sorry to see that you guys are building a church there. Gainesville already has plenty of churches."

The details of our talk are inconsequential, really (to quote Dr. Evil).... suffice it to say that it was envisioning for me to pray (and then work towards) the day that Christ Community might be such a blessing to the entire community that this person would say, "I am glad you guys are in the neighborhood. What would we do without you?"

Here we go....

Yesterday we had a wonderful congregational meeting. You always look for God to help you know where you are on the UNITY front at these meetings... and it couldn't have been more encouraging. So now we move forward... zealously seeking that ground-breaking date!

Pat Sell is substituting for Greg Hamilton in the Youth Class today

Building Info, Who is Who

Building Team of Christ Community Church Kevin Phegley (Chairman), John Gallagher, Frank Matthews, Brad Patterson, Brian Schackow, Sharon Stankunas, Ronnie Neder (advisor)
General Contractor: Sonlight Construction of Orlando
Land Engineer: Jay Brown, of Brown & Cullen, Inc
Architect: John & Jud Dickerson of Leesburg

Session of Elders of Christ Community Church
Larry Eubanks, Mike Marshall, Frank Matthews, Rob Pendley, Charlie Staples

Corporate Officers

One brief order of business before the congregation on April 27th is the election of corporate officers. Let me say a brief word about this.

Christ Community Church of Gainesville, is a 503c non profit corporation registered with the state of Florida. One of the state requirements for all 503c corporations is the election of officers. Besides satisfying the requirement of the state, the only other duty officers have is the carrying out of the actions of the congregation in business matters.

So, if Christ Community Church votes to enter into a loan agreement with a lending institution, the officers of the corporation would sign on behalf of the corporation. This does NOT mean that they are personally liable for anything. The corporation has entered the agreement, not the officers.

On April 27th you will receive a ballot asking for a yes or no vote on the following:

Do you elect the following regarding corporate officers of Christ Community Church:

Larry Eubanks, President
Mike Marshall, Treasurer
Charlie Staples, Secretary

This is a really old tree... years ago one of the main branches was cut (2 others are still growing)
BUT LOOK at how NEW LIFE is coming out where there was so much deadness....

Who hasn't been there? Needing God to bring supernatural spontaneous new life to dead places we've had: --in our hearts or --in a relationship

life of the parent of a teen... waiting up

well... while i wait for my son to come home i had a chance to clean out some old stacked up paper... came across John Piper's lecture on John Newton.... man was I grabbed and helped by the one footnote my eyes fell upon... containing these words:

the question: "Why does the Lord permit some of his people to suffer such violent assaults from the powers of darkness" ?
--not to gratify Satan, but
-- to humble and prove His people;
-- to show His children what is in their hearts,
-- to make them truly sensible of their immediate and absolute dependence upon him and
-- to quicken them if to watchfulness and prayer"

He goes on to suggest that another design (of God) of temptation is "for the manifestation of his power, and wisdom, and grace, in supporting the soul under such pressures as are evidently beyond its own strength to sustain"

RP: I read this to mean that God uses our struggles & temptations to show how HE -- and not our wit or strength-- is our sustaining strength. He gets all the glory. I get humbled, and the opportunity to praise and worship my Savior God.

the whole footnote is here

Women's Retreat Raises a Good Issue

At the very lowest level, our Lord's example in Mark 6

he went up on the mountain to pray....

is an encouragement to build seasons of special communion with God into our lives, and to do what we can to help others do so as well.

all you bi-lingual types

This is a tremendous new initiative to seek to resource the Church in lands that have little access to quality Gospel-centered literature... they are looking for help translating

The Summit of Our Wishes

spurgeon is awesome today.... a sample:
I would, if it were possible, have neither eyes, nor ears, nor heart for sin. ...
To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes. But Lord, how can a stone rise, how can a lump of clay come away from the horrible pit? O raise me, draw me. Thy grace can do it. Send forth Thy Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames of love in my heart, and I will continue to rise... (whole thing is here)

Look up amid thy sorrow

This week has been an interesting one for me...
-- new areas of repentance
-- clashing into all those hope-filled hymns on Tuesday night at the Indelible Grace concert
-- the variety of things I'm working on (from sermon prep to cong.mtg prep to praying & counseling to blah blah)
-- meeting with friends and hearing their struggles & heartaches and frustrations AND HOPES!

Regardless, i find my heart tender toward God... longing to grow in contentment with Christ.... who knows all there is to know (good & bad; tragic & terrific) of me... and knows all of you too.

O heart bereaved and lonely,
Whose brightest dreams have fled
Whose hopes like summer roses,
Are withered crushed and dead

Though link by link be broken,
And tears unseen may fall
Look up amid thy sorrow,
To Him who knows it all --from the hymn, O Heart Bereaved & Lonely, by Fanny Crosby

Youth Trip this weekend!!! Attn. Parents

Parents... if you don't get an email from Lizette by 2pm today about forms we need BEFORE KIDS CAN GO!!! on the weekend trip... CALL the office 379-4949... they are being made available on the church website and the links will be in Lizette's email

Jesus Wants All of Me

Yesterday I read this little devotion to my children.... from a little re-write of Oswald Chamber's MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST, entitled "Jesus Wants All of Me". It made me think of many people and the situations they are in... perhaps you've had a loved one die, or have friend(s) moving away, etc. Be encouraged that God is the steady & unchanging anchor for our soul.

Good-Bye

I miss my friend. She meant so much to me. She showed me how to be like Jesus. And now she is gone. But God meant for her to go. God doesn't want me to trust in my friend. He wants me to trust in Him.

We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18

"And because of all this we make a sure covenant."—Nehemiah 9:38

THERE are many occasions in our experience when we may very rightly, and with benefit, renew our covenant with God. After recovery from sickness when, like Hezekiah, we have had a new term of years added to our life, we may fitly do it. After any deliverance from trouble, when our joys bud forth anew, let us again visit the foot of the cross, and renew our consecration. Especially, let us do this after any sin which has grieved the Holy Spirit, or brought dishonour upon the cause of God; let us then look to that blood which can make us whiter than snow, and again offer ourselves unto the Lord. We should not only let our troubles confirm our dedication to God, but our prosperity should do the same.....
this is the day to put our hand upon the horns of the altar, and say, "Bind me here, my God; bind me here with cords, even for ever." Inasmuch as we need the fulfillment of new promises from God, let us offer renewed prayers that our old vows may not be dishonoured. Because of the pains of Jesus, let us this morning make with Him a sure covenant...
Spurgeon, Morning April 24

Oh God who comes to me in my need...

This morning Chris Hiatt showed me an old hymn that has that as the opening and recurring line...

and then ends with this hope-filled promise

(You are the One) That makes me see new beauty, after pain.

Spurgeon was right on this morning...

We go to Christ for forgiveness, and then too often look to the law for power to fight our sins....

Disciplines are nothing without Christ as a means of mortification. Your prayers, and your repentances, and your tears—the whole of them put together—are worth nothing apart from Him.
"None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good;" or helpless saints either. You must be conquerors through Him who hath loved you, if conquerors at all.

Read the whole paragraph here

No swaggering or sniveling

“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to died for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

- Timothy Keller, The Reason For God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 181.

The Bruised Reed

One of my heroes is Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a London doc turned preacher in the 1900’s. He wrote of this book:

“I shall never cease to be grateful to… Richard Sibbes who was balm to my soul at a period in my life when I was overworked and badly overtired, and therefore subject in an unusual manner to the onslaughts of the devil… I found at that time an unfailing remedy… The Bruised Reed… quietened, soothed, comforted, encouraged and healed me.”

It is available online, an easy google… or at amazon for probably 6 bucks

Jesus, I Come to Thee..... AGAIN! and AGAIN !

Seeking to make my heart happy and rested in God this morning I was helped by these words from last night's concert:

Out of my bondage, sorrow and night,
Jesus, I come; Jesus I come.
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of my sickness into Thy health,
Out of my wanting and into Thy wealth,
Out of my sin and into Thyself,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of my shameful failure and loss,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of earth’s sorrows into Thy balm,
Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,
Out of distress into jubilant psalm,
Jesus, I come to Thee. --- W. Sleeper, whole hymn here

Our Disordered Hearts

“ The real culture war is taking place inside our own disordered hearts, wracked by inordinate desires for things that control us, that lead us to feel superior and exclude those without them, and that fail to satisfy us even when we get them.

— Timothy Keller, The Reason For God (page 169)

Indelible Grace Concert

So strengthening to hear those gospel promises tonite.... found one in Watts Hymnal online:

Faith in Christ for pardon and sanctification.

1 How sad our state by nature is!
Our sin how deep it stains!
And Satan binds our captive minds
Fast in his slavish chains.

2 But there's a voice of sovereign grace
Sounds from the sacred word,
"Ho, ye despairing sinners, come,
"And trust upon the Lord."

3 My soul obeys th' almighty call,
And runs to this relief,
I would believe thy promise, Lord,
O! help my unbelief.

4 To the dear fountain of thy blood,
Incarnate God, I fly,
Here let me wash my spotted soul
From crimes of deepest die.

5 Stretch out thine arm victorious King,
My reigning sins subdue,
Drive the old dragon from his seat,
With all his hellish crew.

6 A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On thy kind arms I fall:
Be thou my strength and righteousness,
My Jesus, and my all.

How People Change

During my time away I had an opportunity to review some materials that I plan to use with the elders and staff. A curriculum called How People Change, based on a book by the same title. A quote and a comment:

Often in our blindness to our gospel identity in Christ, we take on our problems as identities. While serious sin, divorce, depression, and single parenthood are significant human experiences, they ARE NOT our identities. So there is no room for defining yourself as:
“I’m divorced.” “I’m guilty of _________.” “I’m a single parent.”

Those things don’t define us! We are Christians who happen to –fill in the blank— but first and foremost we are defined by belonging to Jesus… so: “I’m a Christian who struggles with depression.” “I’m a Christian who sinned heinously.”

Reminding me of the great promise of Scripture: "I will be your God and you will be my people."

Time Away

I've just returned from 24 hours away. A hard but refreshing time. My purpose was two-fold:
1.) To just get some quiet space to be with God and pray.
2.) To meet with 4 other men about forming a strategic alliance for the advancement of the gospel in our lives. This meeting was mainly organizational and we have our first real meeting in the Summer.

While away from the normal noise of life I am often able to hear God and myself in ways that I don't normally.

Part of what He is showing me is my lack of appropriating the gospel to my own heart and life in the situations and trials God brings me. The time away allowed me to connect with God in fresh ways and say to Him and my own heart, "Christ is all I want or need." Following Him is hard, and there are crosses to bear... yet Romans 8 is true:

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, provided that we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

“If Jesus is your center and Lord and you fail him, he will forgive you. Your career can’t die for your sins. You might say, ‘If I were a Christian I’d be going around pursued by guilt all the time!’ But we all are being pursued by guilt because we must have an identity and there must be some standard to live up to by which we get that identity. Whatever you base your life on - you have to life up to that. Jesus is the one Lord you can live for who died for you - who breathed his last breath for you. Does that sound oppressive?”

- Tim Keller, The Reason for God

Sleep as an Act of Repentance

To go to sleep is to say, "You are God and I'm not." And what I think follows is a willingness to say, "You, therefore, have wisdom that I lack." A prayer that might flow:

God, you know how I struggle with contentment. Much of this flows from the fact that I'm simply dissatisfied with the way you've got my life handled right now. Seems to me that things would be so much better & easier if you would just get on board with the world I want!

Now, I move towards sleep saying that I realize afresh that I'm the creature and you're the Creator. It hurts to know that your way is best and yet I want it. Deep down I really want it. Give me hope in the pain. Forgive me for my whining. By faith, I spew the poison of self-pity from my mouth. I drink in the reminder that you are working all things together for my good. I rest in that. I rest in you.

Fighting Sin With The Gospel, Not the Law

In your fight with sin, it is critical to make sure you are fighting in a gospel rather than legal way. As Walter Marshall writes,

“Understanding the true way of sanctification is absolutely critical for living a holy life in your Christian life. You will not be able to successfully live a holy life unless you use the means God has given you to pursue this holy life! God has chosen and ordained the means of salvation and sanctification that will give Him all the glory! These are the only means that he will bless in your life. He will not crown any man who strives, unless he strives in God's strength.
(II Timothy 2:5) (The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification).

Be still, and know that I am God.
Be still, and know that I AM.
Be still, and know.
Be still.
Be.

Confident Expectation

“It is the will of God, that they who approach to him in Christ, should draw near in full assurance of faith, or with a certain persuasion, and confident expectation of success and acceptance.” -- E. Erskine

Would that more believers in the church today come to understand this glorious truth and thus be turned away from an excessive, morbid introspection and a preoccupation with themselves and instead look outside of themselves to Christ, who is their life, assurance, righteousness, sanctification and redemption! --J. Fonville

Next Step Seminar Friday Night & Saturday AM

Always exciting to welcome the folks who are newer to our church... to the next step seminar... pray for this please as it is a great time for people to build relationships... with each other and with Christ

if you are interested in signing up... call office today! 379-4949

Sleep as an antidote to Pride

What does sleep have to do with humility?

CJ Mahaney: Surprisingly a lot! Sleep is a sweet gift from God but it is also a daily reminder that we are not God. Only God “neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Psalm 121:4). Each night as I confront my need for sleep I am reminded that I am a totally dependent upon God. Sleep is a gift but it’s a humbling gift. Don’t just fall asleep tonight but seize the moment before you fall asleep to weaken pride and cultivate humility by acknowledging you are not self-sufficient, you are not the Creator. Sleep is a daily humbling reminder that we are completely dependent upon God.

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

Lately I've been celebrating, with people ranging from my 10 yr old daughter to my brother-in-law to some CCC u2ers, the goodness of U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind. Today, the last song, Grace, struck me:

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things.

How amazing this reality is when you consider our sin and God's majestic & mysterious grace.

Whole song here

When by faith my Lord I see
Bleeding on a cross for me,
Quick my idols all depart,
Jesus gets and fills my heart. -- found in Matthew Smith song, None Among, not sure of original source

Congregational Meeting April 27

Tonight the session (the elders) of Christ Community voted to recommend to the congregation a loan for the construction of our facility. We'll vote on that April 27th at 12:15pm!

Much more to come... on the website tomorrow and in member's USPS mailboxes this Friday.

Tickets available Sunday

Matthew Smith concert is a week from today! You can pick up your $8 tickets when we gather Sunday. This will be something that any age will enjoy. It will also envision you on what it is like to be in what is called a "church facility". Our friends at Abundant Grace just moved in a few months ago and have been of invaluable help to us in our building process.

A Prayer Before Sleep

Calm me, O Lord, as You stilled the storm.

Still me, O Lord, keep me from harm.
Let all the tumult within me cease.
Enfold me, Lord, in Your peace.

* Father, bless the work that is done,
and the work that is to be.

* Father, bless the servant that I am,
and the servant that I will be.

Thou Lord and God of power,
shield and sustain me this night.

I will lie down this night with God,
and God will lie down with me;
I will lie down this night with Christ,
and Christ will lie down with me;
I will lie down this night with the Spirit,
and the Spirit will lie down with me;
God and Christ and the Spirit,
be lying down with me.

* The peace of God
be over me to shelter me,

* under me to uphold me,

* about me to protect me,

* behind me to direct me,

* ever with me to save me.

The peace of all peace be mine this night in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Sleeping well may also be part of Christian discipleship, at least in our time and place. For not only might a counter-cultural embrace of sleep witness to values higher than ‘the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things.’ A night of good sleep—a week, or month, or year of good sleep—also testifies to the basic Christian story of Creation. We are creatures, and we are creatures with bodies that are finite and contingent. The unarguable demands that our bodies make for sleep are a good reminder that we are mere creatures, not the Creator” --Lauren Winner

Sermon and Sleep

These two words are just loaded with jokes... aren't they?

Well, I'm thrilled about the opportunity and the responsibility of helping us think biblically about 1/4 of our lives!!!

The amount of time we sleep is really amazing. Why did God make us this way? How can we experience Christ's grace while sleeping? Will we sleep when we inhabit the new creation? What does it say about me if i have trouble sleeping? Is it possible to sleep sinfully? All these and more, on the blog this week and from the pulpit on Sunday, if you're awake!

Christ has done great things for his people

“That Christian who has free grace, who has free justification, who has the mediatorial righteousness of Christ, who has the satisfaction of Christ, who has the covenant of grace most constantly in his sight, and most frequently warm upon his heart—that Christian, of all Christians in the world, is most free from a world of fears, and doubts, and scruples which do sadden, sink, perplex, and press down a world of other Christians, who daily eye more what Christ is a-doing in them, and what they are a-doing for Christ, than they do eye either his active or passive obedience.

Christ has done great things for his people, and he has suffered great things for his people, and he has purchased great things for his people, and he has prepared great things for his people; yet many of his own dear people are so taken up with their own hearts, and with their own duties and graces, that Christ is little eyed by them or minded by them!

This is the great reason why so many Christians, who will certainly go to heaven—do walk in darkness, and lie down in sorrow.”

- Thomas Brooks, A Cabinet of Choice Jewels

The Limits of Our Love & The Effects of Christ's Love

“A man may love another as his own soul, yet perhaps that love of his cannot help him. He may thereby pity him in prison, but not relieve him; bemoan him in misery, but not help him; suffer with him in trouble, but not ease him. We cannot love grace into a child, nor mercy into a friend; we cannot love them into heaven, though it may be the great desire of our soul. It was love that made Abraham cry, ‘O that Ishmael might live before thee!’ but it might not be. But now the love of Christ, being the love of God, is effectual and fruitful in producing all the good things which he willeth unto his beloved. He loves life, grace, and holiness into us; he loves us also into covenant, loves us into heaven. Love in him is properly to will good to any one: whatever good Christ by his love wills to any, that willing is operative of that good” --John Owen

A Sermon About Food?

AT first hearing it seems weird. You almost wonder... how will I come up with much to say. Then you start thinking about it... and thumbing through your bible... and you are at the other end of the spectrum saying, "a sermon about food??" ... shouldn't it be a sermon SERIES on food.

One day it may be, or at least a break-out class or seminar. Close parenthesis.

What about all the things that I simply CANNOT address in one brief sermon? As I've had discussions with people about food it seems that certain issues and ideas emerge. Each of them is, at least for some of us, loaded with emotion and questions. Read the entire post here

Oh by the way....

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the killing of MLK jr.



Here is link to U2 site where i first saw it....
Musically... John Legend's stripped-down, piano-based cover of Pride (In The Name of Love) is beautiful in its simplicity.

Enjoying God in The Ordinary....

Tomorrow we discuss "God and Our Eating"

Jonathan Edwards, Food, and Happiness

Jonathan Edwards viewed ... ( everything ) ... as the divinely appointed means of experiencing
the holy God he found so addictive to his soul.

of every possible way, in the words of his sermon on Song of Solomon
5:1, to lay his soul “in the way of allurement.”

Listen to these words of Edwards from his sermon “The Christian
Pilgrim” about the allurement he found in God:
The enjoyment of him is our highest happiness, and is the only happiness
with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to
enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations
here: better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or
the company of any or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but
God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the
sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but
drops; but God is the ocean.

This Sunday I plan to make the point that our enjoyment of food is to point us to the same joy.

Communing With God

John Owen also dismisses the all-too contemporary idea that Jesus is the loving member of the Trinity who saves us from the Father, the angry and stern member of the Trinity:

Christians walk oftentimes with exceedingly troubled hearts, concerning the thoughts of the Father toward them. They are well persuaded of the Lord Christ and his goodwill; the difficulty lies in what is their acceptance with the Father-what is his heart toward them? “Show us the Father, and it suffices us” (John 14:8). Now, this ought to be so far away, that his love (Our Father's love!!) ought to be looked on as the fountain from whence all other sweetnesses flow.

God Communicates His Glory Through All Creation

Edwards is helping me think about the gospel and our eating.

Next time you enjoy food.... remember:

God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced
in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they
only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the
understanding and by the heart. God made the world that He might
communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might [be]
received both by the mind and heart. He that testifies his idea of God’s
glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation
of it and his delight in it. -- Jonathon Edwards

Communion

This Sunday we will commune with each other and Christ. A word or two about communion. First, please note that this Sunday we will be passing the communion elements (bread and cup) down the aisles during our worship service. The elders recently decided that wisdom seemed to alternate monthly between passing down the aisles and "coming down front". This result, hopefully, is one that will lead to more people more often being able to experience the presence of the Risen Christ in our midst. I will try to add to this post over the next couple of days, but for now... here are a couple of positives for each method of distribution of communion.
Passing down the rows: allows reflective meditation; accommodates those that may struggle to bring themselves forward (for physical or other reasons); etc.
Coming down front: requires action/volition; more personal connection between elders and people... as people may hear their names spoken or receive prayer or an encouraging hug; etc.

The opportunity to partake together of the broken body and poured out blood of our Savior is indeed a gift from heaven. Please prayerfully prepare your heart. How? Simply, dwell on your sin and dwell MORE on your Savior. Believe the gospel of grace enough to say to God:
Show me my sin.
Where am I resisting you?
What part of your good creation have a made into an idol... and regularly "go there" for a feeling of being alive, being loved, having meaning, etc? Kill that idolatry, Jesus. Root it out by the power of your love and grace.

Show me Yourself. Your grace and glory. Free my heart to follow you in joyful surrender.

More to come...

The Dance of God

“If the beauty of what Jesus did moves you, that is the first step toward getting out of your own self-centeredness and fear into a trust relationship with him. When Jesus died for you he was, as it were, inviting you into the dance. He invites you to begin centering everything in your life on him, even as he has given himself for you.”

- Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 221.

Sermon Series... The Gospel and The Stuff of Life

Sunday we begin 3 weeks looking at how we spend many of our days.... eating, working, sleeping. In doing some prep work I had some folks tell me they'd never heard eating or sleeping preached on... and i was asked how i decided to do this... i'll write more later... but this quote helped me get there

“Being "Reformed" is a style of life that gives prominence to the conviction that God is creator; hence it is that we give thanks to God for the goodness that surrounds us. Secondly, it incorporates a deep and powerful sense of the fallenness of all things, understood in such a way that there is a strong impulse to resist all attempts to draw lines in the sand, with the explanation that human fallenness occurs on this side of the line and not on that side of the line. Fallenness runs throughout our entire existence—indeed, through the cosmos.
Corresponding to this comprehensive view of sin is then an equally comprehensive view of faith and salvation... In short, I think that at the heart of the Reformed tradition is a passion for totality, for wholeness, for integrity, for not allowing life to fall into bits and pieces but to constantly ask, ‘What does my faith—what does the gospel of Jesus Christ—have do with this and what does it have to do with that?’ And then never being content with the answer, ‘Nothing!’”

--Nick Wolterstorff

You Are Invited.... by Christ....

When I hear His tender invitation and see His wondrous grace,
I cannot hesitate, but must come to Thee in love.

In the supper I remember His eternal love, boundless grace,
infinite compassion, agony, cross, redemption,
and receive assurance of pardon, adoption, life, glory.
As the outward elements nourish my body,
so may Thy indwelling Spirit invigorate my soul,
until that day when I hunger and thirst no more,
and sit with Jesus at His heavenly feet. Amen.