Relishing the Beauty & Holiness of Christ

“The foundation of all holy affections is in moral excellence and the beauty of holiness. There is a love of holiness for its own sake that inclines people to practice holiness. Holiness is thus the main business that excites, draws and governs all gracious affections. No wonder then that all such affections tend to holiness, for men will be united to and possessed by that which they love and desire. (i.e. people do what they love to do). And what has been observed of the divine teaching and leading of the Spirit of God in gracious affections will show a tendency toward a universal, holy practice. The Holy Spirit gives the soul a natural relish for the sweetness of what is holy and for everything that is holy as it comes into view. He also intensifies a dislike and disgust of everything that is unholy.” --Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections

RP: This is why it is so important to ask the Spirit to hold sway in our affections!!

Help Each Other Live with a "God's Story" mentality...

“The central work of God’s kingdom is change. God accomplishes this work as the Holy Spirit empowers people to bring his Word to others. We bring more than solutions, strategies, principles, and commands. We bring the greatest story ever told, the story of the Redeemer. Our goal is to help one another live with a ‘God’s story’ mentality. Our mission is to teach, admonish, and encourage one another to rest in his sovereignty, rather than establishing our own; to rely on his grace rather than performing on our own; and to submit to his glory rather than seeking our own. This is the work of the kingdom of God: people in the hands of the Redeemer, daily functioning as his tools of lasting change.”

- Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands

Tomorrow is "Fat Tuesday"

What to make of Lent? This is difficult for many people.
There is no biblical command to observe Lent and therefore you don't have to do anything.
There is a human tendency to create a religious system by which to feel right with God, and some use Lent to that wrong end.

So why bother? I have found that I need every chance I need to "start over". So I will enter this Lenten season with a renewed commitment to:
-- look to the cross as my righteousness
-- give up my idolatry
-- find my identity in Christ
-- love my neighbor
-- etc
And I might just decide to cut out something I love as a constant reminder that whatever I cut out is usually far more "lovely" to me than is Christ and His gospel. So... if you want to do some thinking on Lent... here are some links.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on February 6th
--Higgins article here

Oh, by the way... the idea of "Fat Tuesday" is this, in my understanding...
Lent is the period when you say, "God burn off the dross of my sin. Remove anything that hinders me from knowing the depth of your love for me and your world." Well, Fat Tuesday is when you realize... I will go crazy and grow neurotic during this time of repentance if I don't bathe myself in the love of God... God provides me an ongoing feast of grace. Only a person full of the love of God can truly have the emotional wealth to look at his/her sin. At least that is my understanding.

“The good news of the kingdom is not freedom from hardship, suffering, and loss. It is the news of a Redeemer who has come to rescue me from myself. His rescue produces change that fundamentally alters my response to these inescapable realities. The Redeemer turns rebels into disciples, fools into humble listeners. He makes cripples walk again. In him we can face life and respond with faith, love, and hope. And as he changes us, he allows us to be a part of what he is doing in the lives of others. As you respond to the Redeemer’s work in your life, you can learn to be an instrument in his hands.”

- Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands

Sermons are Up!

The 2008 Sermons are now on our church website...

Sermon, January 6.2008 on Mark 4:35-41

Sermon, January 13.2008 on Mark 5:1-20, Part I

Sermon, January 20.2008 on Mark 5:1-20, Part II

Sermon, January 27.2008 on Mark 5:21-43

“Whoso then can rightly judge between the law and the Gospel, let him thank God, and know he is a right divine…This place, touching the difference between the law and the Gospel, is very necessary to be known, for it containeth the sum of all Christian doctrine. Wherefore let all who love and fear God, diligently learn to discern the one from the other, not only in words, but in deed and in practice; that is to say, in heart and conscience.” --Martin Luther

He's the defender of the weak

Saturday afternoon, listening to the musicians in the other room prepare a new song that has tremendous potential... Everlasting God.

It has these lines which fit amazingly with what we see of our Jesus in Mark 5 as He heals a little girl and a struggling woman...

You’re the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need

Here are the rest of the lyrics:

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord,
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord (repeat)
Our God You reign forever
Our hope our strong deliv’rer

You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint ..You won’t grow weary
You’re the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles
Copyright 2005 Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)

The lyrics are taken from Isaiah 40:28-31Isaiah 40:28-31 [28]Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. [29]He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. [30]Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; [31]but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

This text is from the ESV Bible. Visit www.esv.org to learn about the ESV.

.

The melody is singable but creative. It has a wide range and some syncopation, but most congregations should be able to pick it up fairly quickly.

Jesus and the little girl in Mark 5

Notice what Jesus did in that little room. He took the little girl's hand. By doing so--by touching a dead body--Jesus Himself became ritually unclean (just as He had done when the women with the hemorrhage had touched His garment [see Leviticus 15]). He shared in her death in order to deliver her from it.

Later, on Calvary, Jesus would again share in death. This time it would be our death. He would become 'unclean' for our sake, and bear God's judgment against our sin. In a sense what he was doing here was but a preview of what he would do then. It was also a preview of what He will do at the end of time, when He will take us by the hand and say, "Arise! That will not be in secret, but in public: 'every eye will see Him.' Even those who mocked him that day will see Him--and will mourn, this time for themselves (cf. Revelation 1:7) Sinclair Ferguson

Marriage Conference Feb 15-16

insert pithy & persuasive comments here

You can sign up sunday during the worship services

THE sign of humility

“Remember this—all the sighing, mourning, sobbing, and complaining in the world, does not so undeniably evidence a man to be humble, as his overlooking his own righteousness, and living really and purely upon the righteousness of Christ.”

- Thomas Brooks, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ

Look simply and directly and instantly . . .

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Look away from yourself. Cease to probe that rankling, ulcerous, incorrigible heart. Look simply and directly and instantly at one object - at Christ bearing your sin in his own body.” - J.W. Alexander

Like an infant in a cradle

"See to it that you fasten your attention on God's Word and stay in it, like an infant in a cradle. If you let go for one moment, you have fallen away from the truth. The one intention of the devil is to get people away from the Word and to induce them to measure God's will and works with their reason." ~ Martin Luther

Your hope is evidence that He is for you

Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. Psalm 119:49

“The argument is that God, having given grace to hope in the promise, would surely never disappoint that hope. He cannot have caused us to hope without cause. If we hope upon his word we have a sure basis: our gracious Lord would never mock us by exciting false hopes. Our great Master will not forget his own servants, nor disappoint the expectation which he himself has raised: because we are the Lord’s, and endeavour to remember his own word by obeying it, we may be sure that he will think upon his own servants, and remember his own promise by making it good.”

- Charles Spurgeon

Grace is the grand and only resource for us all

“It is well to be poor, when the knowledge of our poverty serves but to unfold to us the exhaustless riches of divine grace. That grace can never suffer any one to go away empty. It can never tell anyone that he is too poor. It can meet the very deepest human need; and not only so, but it is glorified in meeting it. This holds good in every case. It is true of every individual sinner…Grace is the grand and only resource for us all. It is the basis of our salvation; the basis of a life of practical godliness; and the basis of those imperishable hopes which animate us amid the trials and conflicts of this sin-stricken world. May we cherish a deeper sense of grace, and more ardent desire for glory! ---C H MacIntosh, 1860, Notes on Leviticus

Martin Luther King

John Piper sets up a reading of MLK like this: All you have to do to find some good word from MLK is Google his name. His "I have a dream" speech has some powerful lines. He dreams that some day his children "will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character." That cry is as important today globally and locally as it was in 1963.

In my judgment the "I have a dream" speech was not the apex of King's eloquence. That is reserved for certain passages in "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" (April 16, 1963). Here is the most powerful word from King I have ever read:

Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dart of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six- year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

Christians who are sensitive to the depth of their sin are a lot easier to be with, because they are not as inclined to be judgmental. --Richard Lovelace

Take not the devil's perspective

If our sins weigh heavier in our mind than our potential for grace and effective service to God and others, we must be taking the devil's perspective. God wants us to be realistic about ourselves. But genuine realism does not lead to caving in under a sense of worthlessness. That is not realism; it is believing the devil's lie. Yes, realism leads us to a sense of weak­ness. But it leads also to Paul's assertion: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13). Paul says elsewhere, "He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses ... for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor 12:9‑10). --Richard Lovelace

Dwelling on that which enslaves... and He who frees

This fella Legion has captured the attention of many of us as we looked at Mark 5 last week and tomorrow. And it has me thinking and praying about our addictive behaviors... and the love & power of Christ.

I . . . was bound not by an iron imposed by anyone else but by the iron of my own choice. The enemy had a grip on my will and so made a chain for me to hold me a prisoner. The consequence of a distorted will is passion. By servitude to passion*, habit is formed, and habit to which there is no resistance becomes necessity. By these links . . . connected one to another . . . a harsh bondage held me under restraint. --Augustine

*(passion for anything--- diamonds or drugs, position or power, grades or times, relationships, etc)


Batter my heart... John Donne

Batter my heart, three person'd God; for, you

As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;

That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend

Your force, to breake, blow, burn and make me new.

I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due,

Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no end,

Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,

But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.

Yet dearley'I love you,'and would be loved faine,

But am betroth'd unto your enemie:

Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe,

Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I

Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,

Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.

Thursdays with John Owen

On Thursdays I meet for an hour for prayer, accountability, laughter, etc with 3 other men. We are reading together through a book by John Owen called, Of The Mortification of Sin in Believers... this book was written about 300 years ago and speaks of things we all wrestled with this morning. It is basically one long meditation on Romans 8:13:

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Owen has thrown cold water on us... reminding of us that we have an enemy and the sooner we realize it the better. He asks, "Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work to fight sin? Are you seeking to be always at it while you live? To cease not a day from this work? Be killing sin or it will be killing you." (You can get the book, under cover with 2 others for a cheap rate here: )

links on demons

what are demons?--Demons, very good& brief article by J.I. Packer here

I'll try to point you to resources in case there is something you want/need to pursue more info on....
--Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices by Thomas Brooks.... you can probalby get a paperback for $5 or read it online here


i haven't gone thru these... but both men I trust and respect... so this would be a good start

Spiritual Warfare Part 1 - God's Control Over Demons
Vern Poythress (mp3)

Spiritual Warfare Part 2 - God's Redemption from Demons
Vern Poythress (mp3)

Spiritual Warfare Part 3 - God's Empowering to Fight Demons
Vern Poythress (mp3)

Demons
Sam Storms

Defeat of Devil-Demons
Sam Storms

Doors to Demonization
Sam Storms

Nature of Demonization
Sam Storms

"Go and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." Jesus in Mark 5

"Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me." (Psalm 27:7)

I stand before you with shoulders bent and hands that are empty... I am quite aware of the
duplicity of my heart,
the evil of my choices,
and the failure of my behavior,
but I am not afraid
because I stand before you
with one argument,
with one plea.
This argument is enough.
This plea is sufficient.
This argument is the only thing
that could ever give me
courage,
rest,
and sturdy hope.
So I come before you
with this plea;

your mercy.

Your mercy is my rest.
Your mercy is my hope.
Your mercy makes me bold.
Your mercy is all I need.
Your mercy
tells me you will hear.
Your mercy
tells me you will act.
Your mercy
tells me you will forgive.
Your mercy
tells me you will restore.
Your mercy
tells me you will strengthen.
Your mercy is my
welcome,
plea,
and my rescue.
I rest in this one thing,
You are mercy
and
You will answer. ---Paul Tripp (entire post/prayer here)

The Health & Wealth of the Community

Sarah Hamersma is leading a reading group that looks intriguing.

When the Adulteress Went Home

After Jesus rescued the adulteress from stoning in John 8, have you ever wondered what it was like for her to go home?
this brief article is mainly about freedom from guilt and confidence in Christ... a quote
When I… feel guilty… and hopeless because of yesterday's failure… I need the grace of forgiveness based on a great past substitutionary sacrifice on the cross, that covers all my sins… and I need the grace of promised help from Jesus today and tomorrow.
--John Piper ... (whole article go home)

Labor of Love Live

Perhaps a new favorite Christmas song of mine...


great lyric...
It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David’s town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother’s hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David’s town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

U2 and Francis Schaeffer

random collection here..but Both of these are important... you might can live without the U2 but not the schaeffer...

U2 movie in 3D
Schaeffer quote:
“If we have sinned, it is wonderful consciously to say, ‘Thank you for a completed work,’ after we have brought that specific sin under the finished work of Christ. The conscious giving of thanks brings assurance and peace. We say, ‘Thank you’ for work completed upon the cross, which is sufficient for a completely restored relationship.

This isn’t on the basis of my emotions, any more than in my justification. The basis is the finished work of Christ in history and the objective promises of God in the written Word. If I believe Him, and if I believe what He has taught me about the sufficiency of the work of Christ for restoration, I can have assurance, no matter how black the blot has been. This is the Christian reality of salvation from one’s conscience.

For myself, through the thirty years or so since I began to struggle with this in my own life, I picture my conscience as a big black dog with enormous paws which leaps upon me, threatening to cover me with mud and devour me. But as this conscience of mine jumps upon me, after a specific sin has been dealt with on basis of Christ’s finished work, then I should turn to my conscience and say, in effect, ‘Down! Be still!’ I am to believe God and be quiet.”
- Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality

The Lewis quote about 200 years from now

“The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other destinations." lewis (full quote)

Women's Morning Bible Study STARTING NOW

Lost Women of The Bible... I know what you are thinking... "At least they'd ask for directions!"
Starts today... Tuesday Jan 15

• January 15-March25
  Tuesday Mornings @ 9:30-11:00am
  @ The home of Tara Gallagher (Map)
  "Lost Women of The Bible" by Carolyn James
  Led by: Rebecca Schackow & Lizette Crosson
• All women are invited to come and join us as we study the women of the Bible,
  and how they relate to us today.
  Childcare is provided, but please call Leslie Marshall to let her know you will be using the childcare so that we may have a better count for supervision (332.8336).

Calvin quote on Mark 5

In the person of one man Christ has exhibited to us a proof of his grace, which is extended to all mankind. Though we are not tortured by the devil, yet he holds us as his slaves, till the Son of God delivers us from his tyranny. Naked, torn, and disfigured, we wander about, till he restores us to soundness of mind. It remains that, in magnifying his grace, we testify our gratitude. --John Calvin on Mark 5

How Demons Work

C.S. Lewis, in his book "Screwtape Letters" pictures an experienced demon (Screwtape) mentoring his nephew, Wormwood, in how to be an effective demon... He does this through writing letters... this one on how to keep a new Christian from following “The Enemy” (who for demons is the living God).

“My dear Wormwood, I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence. That question, at least for the present phase of the struggle, has been answered for us the High Command. Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves…. I do not think you will have much difficulty in keeping the patient in the dark. The fact that ‘devils’ are comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you.” --CS Lewis

In The Problem with Pain, C.S. Lewis states that people will “enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved.”

C.S. Lewis fans

This is a cool website where you can read articles about C.S. Lewis...

Charitable Giving Statements

FYI, the financial powers-at-be tell me that they are sending out the documents of 2007 giving this week... which will smoke the January 31 deadline the gov't requires.

Reformed University Ministry--RUF

RUF launches Tuesday and Steve is teaching through the I Am's of John's gospel.

Any students who are not already connected with a campus ministry should check this out.

George Washington

Last week i was reading a book with my 6yr old, i think it was called, THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF VIRTUES... and it had a nice little thing about how George Washington was fighting a losing cause early in the war. GW goes out to pray and some fellow overheard his prayers and returned home to his wife and said:

The colonists will win the war. I have just heard George Washington praying and God will answer his prayers because he is so brave. Now, I love George Washington... and i'm glad (and proud) to be an American... but i couldn't let that go. I asked: Do you think God answers his prayers because he was brave? Why would God listen to anyone? I recommended Jesus to my son as his (and his dad's!) only hope, but not very eloquently. Well, here is what I should have told my son:

“It is the gospel that makes prayer possible. Christ, the Mediator of the new covenant, by whom justification and sanctification are promised, is also the Mediator who makes your prayers accepted by the Father (Hebrews 4:15-16). The Holy Spirit, who gives you the new birth, who unites you to Christ, who sanctifies you, and who shows you the things of Christ, is a Spirit of prayer (Zechariah 12:10, Galatians 4:6). He is like a fire inflaming your soul, and He makes you mount upward in prayer to God. Prayerless people are dead to God('s goodness and power).”

--Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification

I believe the gospel... for you, not myself

“I don’t have a hard time believing the Gospel is true…for you. God loves you and accepts you and wants to do good to you. The problem is, I have such a hard time believing it’s true for me. Luther nailed it when he said that we are born with an inborn suspicion that God is not for us. Like a bass note in a terrific song, I battle almost daily the constant thumping that because of my failures, sins, and selfishness, I do not have God’s favor. He seems to be never satisfied. So what is the answer? How do I keep on keeping on? The life and death of Jesus tells me that the lie is just that, a lie. God is satisfied because He was satisfied with Jesus; and I am in Him and He is in me. That’s the antidote to the inborn suspicion—the Father is for me, because of the cross of Jesus. So daily, it’s a fight of faith; to believe the Gospel is true for me.” -Tom Wood

Demons & Pigs & Jesus

asking about the relationship between the demons and the pigs: Once Jesus has forced the demons to name themselves, they know defeat is immanent and they grovel. Apparently the most
the demons can hope for is to be left in their home territory rather than being
banished to the wilderness or to ruins. (These places were considered dangerous
to human beings because demons wandering and lurking in such places were
desperate for human hosts.) While demons would not normally want animal
hosts, Jesus was now master of their fate, so they bargained. It seems likely that
Jesus was able to accomplish a dual purpose. Banishing the demons permanently
and ridding the territory of an animal that since Moses was unclean to Jews.
When the demons enter the pigs, they immediately rush down a steep slope into
the lake. Animals have no resistance to the demons’ great urge to destroy life.
Mark writes nothing about the spirits leaving the pigs and therefore, we are to think that they remain in the water. Other ancient literature leads us to believe that demons considered this fate worse than having no host at all. --from the Mark Study Guide of Redeemer PCA in Manhattan

No matter how scared you are... DO NOT ask Jesus to leave you

Mark 5 they ask Jesus to leave and He does. The idea that Jesus might go away if you ask him to has terrifying implications. --Jeff White

Evil, Suffering, and Our Joy

If heaven is a compensation for all the stuff you have always wanted but never going to have, that is one thing, but if the new heavens and new earth is our hope, and it is - and therefore we have a restoration of everything you ever wanted - the new heavens and new earth will make every horrible thing you every experienced nothing but a nightmare… and as a nightmare will do nothing but infinitely, correspondingly, increase your future joy in glory, in a way that it wouldn’t have been increased if you had never suffered it. And that is the ultimate defeat of evil. To say evil is an illusion or that you are going to be compensated for it is one thing, but to say that evil will be in the end the servant of your joy - that’s astounding. The Christian hope does not just compensate you for your suffering, it undoes it - it absolutely undoes it. Our momentary affliction achieves an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. --Tim Keller

It is in seeing what it cost Jesus Christ to defeat evil that evil is defeated in your life. --Tim Keller

Evil

Looking at Jesus and the demoniac in Mark 5 (there is so much there) and realizing we can't deal with it all i want to post various "extra material"...

Why such darkness among us?
Andrew Delbanco begins his book The Death of Satan:
“A gulf has opened up in our culture between the visibility of evil and the intellectual resources available for coping with it….The repertoire of evil has never been richer. Yet never have our resources been so weak. We have no language for connecting our inner lives with the horrors that pass before our eyes in the outer world….We no longer have a conception of evil as a distributed entity with an ontological essence of its own….Yet something that feels like this force still invades our experience, and we still discover in ourselves the capacity to inflict it on others.”

Your Personal Evangelism

"Evangelism is best done out of the context of a gospel community whose corporate life demonstrates the reality of the word that gave her life."

"People need to encounter the church as a network of relationships rather than a meeting you attend or a place you enter. Mission must involve not only contact between unbelievers and individual Christians, but between unbelievers and the Christian community."

"Most gospel ministry involves ordinary people doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality."

--quotes by Tim Chester

Mark 5... our text for Sunday... Jesus & A Wild Man

This account is as weird as it is familiar... for me at least. Richard Phillips gives this insight:

"What we are seeing is a vivid portrayal of what Satan's rule means for humankind, a foretaste of hell itself."

Sunday Schedule

9:00
Worship Service in the theater
Children's Sunday School Classes for all ages
Youth Class
Adult Class: "Covenants in the Bible" taught by Tom Miller in the Media Center

10:15-10:44 Coffee, Muffin Hanging Out (Live Together)

10:45
Worship Service in the theater
Childcare for ages 4 and below
Children's Church (dismissed prior to the sermon)
Adult Class: "Covenants in the Bible" taught by Charlie Staples in Room 6

Church website & email

We are working on it but right now the website is down down down and we are not receiving all incoming email... sorry

Measuring Growth

“If I have observed anything by experience, it is this: a man may take the measure of his growth and decay in grace according to his thoughts and meditations upon the person of Christ, and the glory of Christ’s kingdom, and of His love.” - John Owen

One of the reasons I love Christ Community

This is how my conversation with my two youngest children went last night...

Rob: What did you guys talk about today at church?
Daughter: We talked about Joseph and the coat of many colors.
Rob: Where is that in the Bible?
Daughter: Ummm.... Genesis thirtysomething
Rob: Bingo. (Flipping through bible...) Genesis 35 I think. Now, how about you, son. What did you learn today?
Son: I'm desperate.
Rob: Tell me more. Desperate for what?
Son: Desperate for Jesus.

And that is what I love about our children's ministry.... teaching children the Scriptures AND the point of the Scriptures... to desperately depend on the Christ whom the Scriptures reveal!

Evening Group for Ladies

Tomorrow evening begins a weekly women's meeting... (the morning meeting kicks off next week)
contacts for more information:
Becky Gilbertson 502-545-3582 OR Mo Omli 352-316-1828

The meetings will be at 7pm at the Omli home:
10404 NW 13th Lane
Gainesville, FL 32606
Map to Omli home

“Guilty people make others feel guilty; free people make others free. And you can always tell how guilty a person feels by noticing how guilty you feel around him or her. Can I repeat that? You can always tell how guilty a person feels by noticing how guilty you feel are him or her. Jesus has made you free. It is important that you bring others to Him for the same surgery that He has performed on you.” --Steve Brown, Born Free

I am Safe

Several of you have asked for this meditation... I've put in parenthesis the minor changes I made to suit our setting yesterday. At the bottom is the link to the author's personal blog which is a rich rich source of encouragement in Christ.

I am safe,
not because I have no
trouble,
or because I never experience
danger.
I am safe,
not because people affirm
me,
or my plans always
work out.
I am safe,
not because I am immune from
disease,
or free of the potential for
poverty.
I am safe
not because I am protected from
disappointment,
or separated from this
fallen world.
I am safe,
not because I am
wise
or strong.
I am safe,
not because I deserve
comfort or have earned my
ease.
I am safe,
not because of
money
or power,
or position,
or intellect,
or who I know,
or where I live.
I am safe because of the glorious mystery of
grace.
I am safe because of the presence of
boundless love.
I am safe because of
divine mercy,
divine wisdom,
divine power,
divine grace.
I am safe,
not because I never face
danger,
but because you are
with me in it.
You have not given me
a ticket out of danger.
You have not promised me
a life of ease.
You have chosen to place me in
a fallen world.
I am safe
because you have given me
the one thing
that is the
only thing
that will ever keep me safe.
You have given me
You.
I am safe
from my evil heart
and this shattered world,
not because I can escape
them both,
but because in the middle of
temptation and trial,
danger and disappointment
sickness and want,
You give me everything
I need to
fight temptation
and avoid defeat
and to point others
to the safety
that can only be found
in You.
So, I will wake up tomorrow
and face the anxiety
of not knowing,
the fear of my own weakness,
and the reality of the fall.
I will live with
faith,
courage,
perseverance,
and hope.
And when (storms) comes,
and they will,
I will whisper to
my weakening heart,
(repeating the words You spoke to the storm... Peace, be still.)
--by Paul Tripp

The Gospel is Your Ammunition

“A saint without a good knowledge of the gospel is as vulnerable as an army without ammunition.”

- William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour

When you cannot see your way...

When you cannot see your way, be satisfied that He is your leader. When your spirit is overwhelmed within you, He knows your path; He will not leave you to sink. He has appointed seasons of refreshment, and you shall find He does not forget you. Above all, keep close to the throne of grace. If we seem to get no good by attempting to draw near Him we may be sure we shall get none by keeping away from Him. ---John Newton, 1775.... more

Trials

"All Christians will pass through sudden and fierce storms, not in spite of our fellowship with Jesus but because of it. We enter tribulations because it is the nature of our hostile environment (this fallen world) and because our Lord wants to test and strengthen our faith in Him." --Richard Phillips

Storms of Your Life

This Sunday we will look together at Mark 4:35-41... which includes the account of the storm at sea. One thing that has gripped me is this: Why were the disciples of Jesus caught in the middle of a storm? Why was their life being turned upside down? Why was it difficult to get oriented? Why did they wonder if Jesus cared about them at all? Well... an important reason is because Jesus said, "Let's go." (see 4:35)

So Jesus sets them out on a voyage that is rocky! There is something about who Jesus is and the kind of power He has that the disciples need to go through a storm to "get". So, could it be that you are experiencing temptations and trials that are God-designed to reveal to you His glory and grace? It certainly reads that way to me.

Growing Pains

Young converts are prone to depend too much on joyful frames, and love high excitement in their devotional exercises; but their heavenly Father cures them of this folly, by leaving them for a season to walk in darkness and struggle with their own corruptions. When most sorely pressed and discouraged, however, He strengthens them with might in the inner man. He enables them to stand firmly against temptation; or, if they slide, he quickly restores them, and by such exercises they become much more sensible of their entire dependence than they were at first. They learn to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long, and to distrust entirely their own wisdom and strength, and to rely for all needed aid on the grace of Jesus Christ. Such a soul will not readily believe that it is growing in grace. But to be emptied of self-dependence, and to know that we need aid for every duty, and even for every good thought, is an important step in our progress in piety. The flowers may have disappeared from the plant of grace, and even the leaves may have fallen off, and wintry blasts may have shaken it, but now it is striking its roots deeper, and becoming every day stronger to endure the rugged storm. --Archibald Alexander

Growth is imperceptible... pursue it daily

As growth in grace is gradual, and the progress from day to day imperceptible, we should aim to do something in this work every day. We should die daily unto sin and live unto righteousness. Sometimes the children of God grow faster when in the fiery furnace than elsewhere. -- Archibald Alexander (1772-1851) in an article entitled Practical Directions How to Grow in Grace and Make Progress in Piety

What do you do when your concience condemns you?

"There is simply no other way to compete with the forebodings of my conscience, the condemnings of my heart, and the lies of the world and the Devil than to overwhelm such things with daily rehearsings of the gospel.”

- Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer

The Relationship between Abiding in Christ & your Bible

“In a nutshell, abiding in Christ means allowing His Word to fill our minds, direct our wills, and transform our affections. In other words, our relationship to Christ is intimately connected to what we do with our Bibles!” - Sinclair Ferguson, In Christ Alone (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2007), 114.

Your Goodness Will be With Me

O Love Beyond Compare,
You are good when you give,
when you take away,
when the sun shines upon me,
when night gathers over me.
You have loved me before the foundation of the world,
and in love redeemed my soul;
You love me still,
in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.
Your goodness has been with me during another year,
leading me through a twisting wilderness,
in retreat helping me to advance,
when beaten back making sure headway.
Your goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
With you as the blessed Pilot of my future as of my past.
I bless you that you have veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
If you have appointed storms of tribulation,
you will be with me in them;
If I have to pass through storms of persecution and temptation,
I shall not drown;
If I am to die,
I shall see your face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot,
grant me grace that my faith will not fail;
If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,
I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify yourself in me whether in comfort or trial,
as a chosen vessel suitable always
for your use.

What is your Bible intake plan for 2008?

Have you settled on a plan to intake the Scriptures in 2008. There are many many helpful "plans" available. Which plan is the best? The one you use! It really matters not whether you cover the whole Bible, the New Testament, the Old Testament, or simply read the Gospel of Mark over and over again. But planning usually helps. Me? I've had my butt kicked by Robert Murray McCheyne's plan for years... but I keep coming back to it. Now I've found that someone has made it a 2 year plan... half the reading!! Here's the link

US Letter size.

“The proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are, but an awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace. Spiritual maturity is not measured in the rules you keep. Spiritual maturity is not measured in the Bible answers you know in small groups. Spiritual maturity is not even about what you do. Primarily, Spiritual maturity is knowing who you are in Christ.” --Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew

I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him, because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted for me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters. This is a momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort--the sort of comfort that energizes. . . in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love, and watching over me for my good. Three is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me. . . He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow-men do not see (and I am glad!), and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose. . . not merely that we know God, but that He knows us
-- (J. I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 37).

Sweet Baby Jesus, Temptation & Johnny Cash

To save us all from Satan's power, when we had gone astray....

That great line from "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" reminds us that Christ has come to deliver us from sin... its penalty AND power. And so here's a brief video on the life of Johnny Cash, with an emphasis on temptation & Christ

Immanuel... God with us

Preaching on Isaiah 7:14 over a century ago, Charles Spurgeon closed his sermon with this flourish:

"God with us." It is hell's terror. Satan trembles at the sound of it; the black-winged dragon of the pit quails before it. Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, "God with us," back he falls, confounded and confused. "God with us" is the laborer's strength; how could he preach the gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand at the stake, how could the confessor own his Master, how could men labor, if that one word were taken away? "God with us" is the sufferer's comfort, the balm of his woe, the alleviation of his misery, the sleep which God gives to his beloved, their rest after exertion and toil. "God with us" is eternity's sonnet, heaven's hallelujah, the shout of the glorified, the song of the redeemed, the chorus of angels, the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky.

Thanks, Spurgeon, for reminding us of our deepest resource for life today: "God with us."

Sunday December 23 with Christ Community

the only thing hap'nin on Sunday morning at Oak Hall School is 10:15am worship service...

we'll be finishing our look at how Christ is incarnated as our Prophet, Priest, and King

sunday afternoon... if you'd like, there is a group of CCC folk meeting at Palm Gardens at 5pm to do a bit o' Christmas Caroling for the folks there... scroll down for details

Have yourself a Martin Luther Christmas

The true believer’s response to the true meaning of Christmas is beautifully expressed in a carol that Luther wrote for his young children—a carol commonly known by its opening words: “From Heaven High.” The carol seems to have been written for a Christmas pageant to be performed in Luther’s church. First an angel sings, announcing the Savior’s birth. The final stanza of the angel’s song goes like this:

Look now, you children, at the sign,
A manger cradle far from fine.
A tiny baby you will see.
Upholder of the world is he.

These words serve as the cue for the church’s children to come forward and worship the Christ. With reverent wonder they sing:

How glad we’ll be if it is so!
With all the shepherds let us go
To see what God for us has done
In sending us his own dear Son.
Look, look, my heart, and let me peek.
Whom in the manger do you seek?
Who is that lovely little one?
The Baby Jesus, God’s own Son.
Be welcome, Lord; be now our guest.
By you poor sinners have been blessed.
In nakedness and cold you lie.
How can I thank you—how can I?
O dear Lord Jesus, for your head
Now will I make the softest bed.
The chamber where this bed shall be
Is in my heart, inside of me.

Then the whole congregation joins the song, celebrating Christmas the Martin Luther way, and the way of every true believer in the Christ of Christmas:

To God who sent his only Son
Be glory, laud, and honor done.
Let all the choir of heaven rejoice,
The new ring in with heart and voice!

Lauren Winner

Recently I was talking with a friend about a very gifted woman named Lauren Winner... and i thought i would make you aware of her and her work.

Lauren Winner is the author of Girl Meets God, Mudhouse Sabbath, and Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity. She has appeared on PBS’s Religion & Ethics Newsweekly and has written for The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, Publishers Weekly, and Christianity Today. Winner has degrees from Columbia and Cambridge universities and recently completed her doctorate in the history of American religion. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband, Griff Gatewood.

Download her talks here (MP3s, 7MB):
Girl Meets God
Not Just Another Church Talk About Sex
Rest in a Frenetic Culture

4 different 10 minute segments on Kindling Muse

--Interview on "Real Sex" at Covenant Seminary website here

-- Link to tons of other resources of Lauren Winner

All depends on incarnation

Underline this thought: assurance, peace, access to God, knowledge that He is our Father, and strength to overcome temptation all depend on this-the Son of God took our flesh and bore our sins in such a way that further sacrifice for sin is both unnecessary and unintelligible. --Sinclair Ferguson

Risen with healing...

I love "Hark the Herald" & it has such rich lyrics.... i'm always grabbed by this line

Light & Life to all He brings...........Risen with healing in His wings.

Christ coming to us as our Physician is good news for the sin-weary soul... the following makes a great prayer...

Physician of my sin–sick soul,
To thee I bring my case;
My raging malady control,
And heal me by thy grace.

Pity the anguish I endure,
See how I mourn and pine;
For never can I hope a cure
From any hand but thine. --John Newton, complete hymn here

Caroling at Palm Gardens

There is a group from Christ Community planning to Christmas Carol at Palm Gardens, Sunday afternoon--DEC 23rd--at 5pm.

Palm Garden of Gainesville
227 S.W. 62nd Boulevard
Gainesville, FL 32607

Much Love

The promises of Scripture tell you that your Savior-God will guard you, guide you, keep you, feed you, care for you, uphold you, forgive your daily shortcomings, free you from Satan's snares and bondages, and shepherd you through this world to the next, where you will see and enjoy Him forever.
--J. I. Packer

Wondering About the Incarnation

“How are we to think of the incarnation? The New Testament does not encourage us to puzzle our heads over the physical and psychological problems that it raises, but to worship God for the love that was shown in it. For it was a great act of condescension and self humbling. ‘He, Who had always been God by nature’ writes Paul, ‘did not cling to His prerogatives as God’s equal, but stripped Himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave to nature and being born as mortal man. And having become man, He humbled Himself by living a life of utter obedience, even to the extent of dying, and the death He died was the death of a common criminal. And all this was for our salvation.” --J I Packer, Knowing God.

“From the first sin in the garden of Eden to the final judgment of the great white throne, human beings will continue to embrace the love of God as the gift of everything but Himself. Indeed there are ten thousand gifts that flow from the love of God. The gospel of Christ proclaims the news that He has purchased by His death ten thousand blessings for His bride. But none of these gifts will lead to final joy if they have not first led to God. And not one gospel blessing will be enjoyed by anyone for whom the gospel’s greatest gift was not the Lord Himself.”

John Piper, God is the Gospel (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2005), 12.

He Himself

The plan of salvation teaches me, not merely that I can never do anything to earn, increase, or extend God's favor, or to avoid the justified fury of His wrath, or to wheedle benefits out of Him, but also that I never need to try to do any of these things. God himself has loved me from eternity. He Himself has redeemed me from hell through the cross. He Himself has renewed my heart and brought me to faith. He Himself has now sovereignly committed Himself to complete the transformation of me into Christ's likeness and to set me, faultless and glorified, in His own presence for all eternity. When almighty love has thus totally taken over the task of getting me home to glory, responsive love, fed by gratitude and expressed in thanksgiving, should surface spontaneously as the ruling passion of my life. It will be my wisdom to brood on and mull over the marvelous mercies of God's plan until it does.

--J.I. Packer, Rediscovering Holiness, page 76

It is the heart that is not yet sure of its God that is afraid to laugh in His presence.

--George MacDonald

O For a Thousand Tongues...

Sunday Chris Hiatt mentioned that "O For 1000" was written by Charles Wesley on the anniversary of his conversion to Christ. And Chris mentioned that the song originally had 18 stanzas. Well, as someone who grew up in the Methodist church I am privileged with the heritage of zeal for Christ that the Wesley brothers had. Those guys knew they were sinners and that Christ was a Savior! So when Chris mentioned it I remembered that the last stanzas are noteworthy. And they follow:

Harlots and publicans and thieves
In holy triumph join!
Saved is the sinner that believes
From crimes as great as mine.

Murderers and all ye hellish crew
In holy triumph join!
Believe the Savior died for you;
For me the Savior died.

With me, your chief, ye then shall know,
Shall feel your sins forgiven;
Anticipate your heaven below,
And own that love is heaven.

Watching an elderly man bust a move

There really is nothing sweeter, is there? than watching someone you thought to ONLY be distinguished, wise, and formal... bust a move on the dance floor.

That is how I felt reading this article from Richard Gaffin. I've long respected him from afar and he's helped me tremendously form my understanding of the Bible's teachings on certain matters... but I stumbled across his sermon on my text for Sunday and read this:

We tend to think of Christ as a divine being who is far removed from us. But he has become one with us, and he has been tempted, really and truly, just like you and I in every respect, but with one important difference–he did not yield to temptation. He overcame temptation. And so "he is able to help those who are being tempted" (2:18).

Jesus knows the desert, with the stresses and temptations that you and I are exposed to. He knows it by his own intimate experience. And so Jesus also knows something that some who call themselves Calvinists overlook. He knows that the certainty of our salvation does not cancel out the seriousness of our present situation. He knows that only those who endure to the end are going to be saved (Mt. 24:13). And he knows that enduring to the end is not something that happens automatically. He knows that for us to endure to the end will not happen without prayer. In particular, it will not happen without his prayer.

That really helps me see Jesus as my priest and how valuable it is to have a priest like Him. And puts my heart right out there on the dance floor with Dr. Gaffin!

Youth Group Boys at Christmas Party

Honest War

“Honest war with yourself comes paired with incomprehensible gifts. The peace of God passes all understanding, at the cost of all your fears! The love of God surpasses knowing, at the cost of every false love! Whatever you do, get this wisdom, this kingdom of God, this Christ! Nothing you could possibly desire compares. The cost is high: yourself. The reward is higher: no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

- David Powlison, Speaking Truth In Love

So sing out with joy for the brave little boy
Who was God but he made himself nothing
Well he gave up his pride and he came here to die
Like a man

So gather ‘round, ye children come
Listen to the old, old story
Of the power of death undone
By an infant born of glory
Son of God, Son of Man

--Andrew Peterson

The Wonders of Technology & Digital Music

You may have said, and i'm sure you've heard it said... "Why can't the nightly news ever report good stuff? All they talk about is murder, etc.

The same can be true of prices, can't it... "I remember when a can of Mt. Dew was 25 cents. Now I pay almost $1."

Without getting into all the economics stuff (THAT is why we have Dr. Hamersma!) I just have to report the following...

In 1987 my older brother gave me the cassette tape "A Very Special Christmas"... i have no idea what he paid. But today I bought that from Itunes for $8. So I can slap it on my ipod and enjoy the Boss doing "Merry Christmas, Baby" and U2 (a young U2!) doing "Baby, Please Come Home" as well as Whitney Houston's incredible "Do You Hear What I Hear"... all the while exposing my children to my high school musical diet...........forgive my happy rant.

Great phrases

Christmas hymns & songs have some tremendous biblical truth in them. Here's one:

The weary world rejoices...

Just some simple notes

Great book with the cheesiest cover ever... (sidenote: the same is true of a book called "Raising a Christian Daughter in an MTV world)

from time to time i try to read a book by Paul Tripp called, "Age of Opportunity: Parenting a Teenager." I think i always put it down because I realize... "I need much more work than my son does!" Anyway,
this morning i was looking and and started outlining
Chapter 5 Parents, Meet Your Teenager

Tendencies of teens, from proverbs
1. No hunger for wisdom or correction
A. We cannot give in and let teen set the agenda for our relationship
B. Easy for them to be defensive
3 ways to help secure them when they are defensive:
1st 'i am not against you......for u'
2nd Help them examine their defensiveness... if it is true you can say, "I haven't raised my voice or threatened anything. Why do you think there's tension in the room?"
3rd confess my sin & express confidence in Christ that He's forgiven me... let your teen see that confession leads to freedom

that is the first of about 6 tendencies... i may never blog about another one... knowing my ADD... but perhaps this might send some of you to buy the book

Finally, my highest recs for children's books are:
Shepherding a Child's Heart... balances teaching your young ones that they are under authority but also gives parents a vision for reaching their heart
Parenting without Perfection... nuff said?
Age of Opp
How Parents Raise Children by Dan Allender.... don't get me started... Allender thinks that God gives us the perfect children to draw out sin in us so that God can sanctify us... and that is mysteriously the very vehicle God uses to draw our children to Him

We must get to the cross... and dwell there

“Every plant must have both soil and root. Without both of these there can be no life, no growth, no fruit. The root is ‘peace with God’; the soil in which that root strikes itself, and out of which it draws the vital sap, is the free love of God in Christ. ‘Rooted in love’ is the apostle’s description of a holy man.

The secret of a believer’s holy walk is his continual recurrence to the blood of the Surety, and his daily intercourse with a crucified and risen Lord. All divine life, and all the precious fruits of it, pardon, peace, and holiness, spring from the cross. All fancied sanctification which does not arise wholly from the blood of the cross is nothing better than Pharisaism. If we would be holy, we must get to the cross, and dwell there; else, notwithstanding all our labour, diligence, fasting, praying and good works, we shall be yet void of real sanctification, destitute of those humble, gracious tempers which accompany a clear view of the cross.”

Horatius Bonar, God’s Way of Holiness

I have good news for you

“The Gospel teaches that Christ was born for our benefit and that everything he did and suffered was for us. As the angel says, ‘I have good news for you, a message that will fill everyone with joy. Today your Savior, Christ the Lord, was born in David’s city’. With these words, you can cleary see that he was born for all of us. He doesn’t say a savior was born, but rather, ‘your Savior, Christ the Lord was born’. In the same way he says, ‘I have good news for you’…this joy is for everyone who has this kind of faith.” --Martin Luther, Faith Alone

Meet Me at the Manger & Sunday

What a great night "Meet Me At the Manger" was for our church family and many friends. The music, the children, the decorations... announcing & celebrating God's sending of our much-needed Savior.

Sunday.... if you haven't committed to one of the worship services (9am or 10:15) in our "80 for 15" campaign... please do.

"I thank God for every minute of that frightening storm."

"After months of darkness, light pierced the clouds. My storm didn’t stop suddenly, but it gradually lost power and dissipated and I flew into clear skies. God’s promises again proved reliable instruments. I didn’t crash. In fact, the storm served me very well. I learned more than ever before how to “walk (or fly) by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). I thank God for every minute of that frightening storm." --the whole post is here

Secure Enough to go "Full Stretch"

Yesterday i had a great conversation with members of the "Loaves & Fishes" Community Group. They've been studying & enjoying John Piper's book, Desiring God. They mentioned the radical nature of the call to follow Jesus.... and how in your face Piper is about materialism, laziness, pride, gluttony, etc. I said, "The other guy who taught your group, JI Packer, preaches the same gospel... only in an understated British kind of way." I couldn't give an example off hand... until now!!!!

Today when looking online for Packer's chapter in Knowing God called "God Incarnate"... i came across this quote
“We are unlike the Christians of New Testament times. Our approach to life is conventional and static; theirs was not. The thought of ‘safety first’ was not a drag on their enterprise as it is on ours. By being exuberant, unconventional and uninhibited in living by the gospel they turned their world upside down, but you could not accuse us twentieth-century Christians of doing anything like that. Why are we so different? Why, compared with them, do we appear as no more than halfway Christians? Whence comes the nervous, dithery, take-no-risks mood that mars so much of our discipleship? Why are we not free enough from fear and anxiety to allow ourselves to go full stretch in following Christ?"

Praying that this Advent Jesus will secure Christ Community (corporately & individually) to go full stretch.

Sweet Amelia

A man hoping to adopt gives a songwriter some pages from his wife's journal. The journal she was writing to her daughter (Amelia) before they ever met her. "We pray it will be an encouragement to all those still 'waiting'!"

--some of the lyrics give you the sense
How long my arms wait for you
Here on the ocean's edge I wait for you...
A letter in july...
I want to take you home..
I pray tonight that I could be the one
Where do you sleep tonight? Who holds you when you cry? I want to take you home!
Sweet Amelia, how I have somehow loved you all my life. I want to take
Your picture in the post and the days are coming close... and i want to take you home!
Sweet Amelia, your name is like a song...
I'm looking northwest in the sky tonight
We paint the walls in pink
Across the waters I will wait for you...

you can hear the song (and see Amelia!!) here IT IS the 3rd song

A Christmas Hymn by Martin Luther

From heaven above to earth I come
to bear good news to every home;
glad tidings of great joy I bring,
whereof I now will say and sing.

To you this night is born a child
of Mary, chosen mother mild;
this little Child, of lowly birth,
shall be the joy of all the earth. --you can-read the rest here

The Bridge of Grace Will Support You

“The bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother. Thousands of big sinners have gone across that bridge, yea, tens of thousands have gone over it. I can hear their trampings now as they traverse the great arches of the bridge of salvation. They come by the thousands, by their myriads, e’er since that day when Christ first entered His glory.

They come and yet never a stone has sprung in that mighty bridge. Some have been the chief of sinners and some have come at the very last of their days but the arch has never yielded beneath their weight. I will go with them, trusting to the same support. It will bear me over as it has for them.”

- Charles Spurgeon

Info Meeting THIS sunday night

Christ Community Church Haiti Trip!!!

March 8-15, 2008--week of UF spring break
What are we doing?
• Medical clinic
• Construction
• Possibly working with children

With whom are we working?
• Pastor Charles Amicy, a Presbyterian Haitain minister in Messailler

How much will it cost?
• Approximate cost is $1,100/person (includes airfare)

What if I have questions?
• Steve Omli (316.1117) or
• Mo Omli (316.1828)

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live. --Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend, link

Wave of Sorrow

i assume all you U2 fans already knew about re-release of Joshua Tree (with some new stuff!)
here is a little info and reflection and a link to bono explaining wave of sorrow

friday night.... don't want to miss it...

oh by the way... there will be a killer piano duet beginning promptly at 6:30pm... you want to be in your seats by then to fully enjoy

"Christian... To whom do you belong?"

I am His by purchase and I am His by conquest; I am His by donation and I am His by election; I am His by covenant and I am His by marriage; I am wholly His; I am peculiarly His; I am universally His; I am eternally His. -- THOMAS BROOKS

Why we must allow ourselves to be crushed by the Law of God

Why then do you preach the law?
Because it is a schoolmaster to bring people to Christ.
It teaches them the nature of sin, and convinces them of their want of a Saviour. “By the law is the knowledge of sin,” Rom. iii. 20; and vii. 7. Men are secure and careless in sin, until the law, that worketh wrath, reach their consciences, then they begin to know sin, and to feel the exceeding sinfulness of it: “for it is the ministration of condemnation.” 2 Cor. iii. 9.
This then is the office of the law. It brings transgressors to the knowledge of sin, condemns them for it, and puts them under the sentence of their guilt and of their danger, they then find their want of a Saviour.
The law, spiritually understood and applied, convinces the sinner that he is a condemned creature, shows him in God’s word the sentence past upon him, and makes him dread the execution of it. And thus it becomes to him, “the ministration of death,” 2 Cor. iii. 7, proving him to be guilty of sin, and to be deserving of death.
The apostle’s case is very common. I thought myself alive, says he, without the law; he had no doubt but he was alive to God, while he was a strict Pharisee; but when the holy spiritual nature of the law was made known to him, he found himself to be dead in trespasses and sins.
This then is the office of the law. It brings transgressors to the knowledge of sin, condemns them for it, and puts them under the sentence of their guilt and of their danger, they then find their want of a Saviour.
But without this work of the law, they would not have been sensible that they stood in need of Him. If they were never sick, they would never send for the physician. If they were never brought to the knowledge of sin, they would never desire the knowledge of a Saviour. If they never found themselves under guilt and condemnation, they would never sue for His pardon, and would never ask life of Him, unless they found that they deserved to die the first and the second death.
For these reasons the law must be taught. It is the schoolmaster appointed of God to bring sinners (both justified sinners and unjustified sinners!) unto Christ, and when the schoolmaster comes in the name and power of the divine Spirit, and convinces them of their distressed state and condition, and makes them sensible of their guilt and of their misery, then He brings them to Christ, earnestly to ask and humbly to receive mercy from Him, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. ---William Romaine

Mary's pattern of living by faith

“(Consider) Mary’s response to the angel. The angel has come to Mary and says: Mary, you are going to give birth to the long-promised Messiah. This was a unique promise, and unrepeatable. There is something totally unique here: the birth of the eternal second Person of the Trinity into this world. What was her response…She could have rejected the idea and said, ‘I do not want it: I want to withdraw; I want to run’…she could have said, ‘I now have the promises, so I will exert my force, my character, and my energy, to bring forth the promised thing’. But (what she did say) is beautiful, it is wonderful. She says: ‘Behold, the bondmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy Word.’ There is an active passivity here. She took her own body, by choice, and put it into the hands of God to do the thing that he said he would do and Jesus was born. She gave herself to God…This is a beautiful, exciting, personal expression of a relationship between a finite person and the God she loves.” ---Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality

The Words of Christmas

Scot McKnight has a neat idea.... prepping for Christmas by thinking about certain "words of Christmas"..... and starts with the word word.....
“In the beginning,” the Gospel of John tells us, “was the Word.” He furthers this with this: “The Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The first Christmas word we will look at in our Advent 2007 series is Word.
Christmas is about God’s self-expression, God’s Word, in the Person of Jesus Christ. The Christmas message, if it is faithful to John 1:1-14, is the message about Jesus Christ. What God wants to say to us has been said in Jesus Christ.
First, as with Creation so now with the New Creation: it is the act of God. John establishes Advent, Christmas, and the Incarnation as the Act of God to Create.
Second, the Word is the Creator or, perhaps more accurately, God created originally through the Word.
Third, God originally created The Adam; now God’s work begins with the One who becomes Incarnate, taking on flesh and blood (1:14).
Fourth, for John there are almost certainly allusions to Wisdom and Torah when he uses the word “Word.” It is entirely reasonable to think, also, that some would hear the Logos of the Greek world — that by which all things cohere.
Fifth, this Word is a Person. The ultimate and final act of “wording” is “personing” because the “Word” is the communicative act of God. Our words gain meaning from this Word; our words represent and extend who we are to another. Here God’s Word is both “word” and “person.”

80 people for 15 Sundays

A great first response to "80 for 15"... our effort to stabilize the 2 sunday morning worship services at Christ Community....

We received 39 commitments to 9:00 service
We received 58 commitments to 10:45 service

These are encouraging numbers and I expect them both to grow December 9th when those who weren't present (or decided) y'day make their commitments.

Advent is HERE!!!!

“The paradox is amazing. The Creator assumed the human frailty of his creatures. The Eternal One entered time. The all-powerful

made himself vulnerable. The all-holy exposed himself to temptation.

And in the end the immortal died.” --John Stott