We exist to magnify the worth of God by exalting the Savior, equipping the saints and extending Christ's kingdom.
The Ministry Journal & Parent’s Corner
The purpose of the Ministry Journal is to share stories of God's good work among us and to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ in order to cultivate unity of mind and heart in mission and purpose and to remind one another of our true belonging to the family of God.
A hike up a mountain is full of disappointments; the way is marked by false, unmet expectations, some obvious and maddening, most insignificant, unnoticed, never rising to the level of conscious awareness. But together they conspire in a liturgy of despair; a training of head, heart, will, body, soul, and imagination in a reality in which disappointment is at the bottom of things; a kind of anti-discipleship whose master asks, “Is it really worth it?” It’s this pedagogy of futility that most threatens my desire and intention to go on; it’s the barrage of disappointments, of expectations unmet.
We recently encountered David’s lamentation on the deaths of Jonathan and Saul right in the center of our study on 1 & 2 Samuel. Not only is this a reminder of the God-honoring act of lamentation, and a model of how to do it well, but it is a reminder that heartfelt lament is not contrary to a life of faith and trust in our sovereign and powerful God.
Often when I’m interacting with unbelievers about the Bible, they will ask, “Why should I trust a 2,000-year-old book?”, as if truth had some sort of expiration date. Which brings us to the Reformation, an event that happened 500 years ago during the Renaissance (age of rebirth) in Europe. Why should we care about the Reformation?
As he winds his way through these regions, he is surrounded by blind men. They are everywhere! His disciples only can see their need for bread. The Pharisees only see their mousetrap set for Jesus and long to bait it with a “sign.” The crowds on a hillside are eager only to be fed with the bread of this world. Finally, in the midst of the tour, a physically blind man is brought to him in Bethsaida and Jesus stops the train.
On the other hand, a healthy Father-child relationship is marked by trust and confidence in the Father. As we pray, and as we see (even seemingly superfluous) prayers answered again and again, our trust and confidence in God’s fatherly care for us matures. By regularly turning to him at all times in all our need, by regularly and knowingly receiving from him all our needs, we live more deeply into our filial relationship to him.
However, that very truth puts professing Christians in a quite vulnerable place. It is all too easy to weave US history together with our Christian faith in such a way that almost any threat (real or perceived) to our personal liberty can feel like an attack on our faith! And any moral legislation we disagree with can generate rather significant confusion regarding whether we should view the issue in question more as a citizen of the US or as a citizen of heaven!
Today, when I read the news or hear about a movie promoting teenage suicide or engage in a discussion with an atheist or even contemplate my own temptations, I am often reminded what a dark world it is in which we live. Unfortunately, I am not always as shocked as I was waking from my summer dreams years ago.
Let us pray that God will once again pour out His Spirit on this spiritually needy land. Let us pray that He will pour out His Spirit on His church. Let us pray that His Name will be hallowed among us, and that His Kingdom will come, and His will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
In that cosy and intimate setting, we reenacted the story of Jesus’ last night with his disciples through Scripture reading, prayer, song, and Communion (and the acoustics of our a cappella singing in the Fireside Room were terrific).
This week at Grace Church we are celebrating these historical events in Jesus’ life that save us from death, and the fear of death, when we receive Him by faith. Yesterday was Palm Sunday where we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when He was celebrated as Messiah and King.
That is why we are working to build the friendships in our youth group. So that our students might surround themselves with friends who pressure one another towards Christ and not away from him.
Gospel Ambition was the conference theme, subtitled Advancing Gospel Glory Deep and Wide. Piper rightly observed that we can’t advance gospel glory without first being clear on what the gospel is. And we can’t be clear on what the gospel is without first being reminded of the reason for which God created the world.
It is even stranger I think, that the Creator of the universe commands a relationship of friendship with his sinful, fallen creatures who would be utterly lost but for his own death and resurrection. The friendship spoken of by Jesus will drive us to our knees and raise up our heads at the same time…
The Conference opened on Monday, 30 January, with four consecutive break-out sessions. I attended a workshop with Tony Merida, founding Pastor of Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, NC, titled, The Foundation of Preaching. It was a helpful reflection and reminder of why it is important to preach the Word of God, and nothing else. This doesn’t eliminate creativity but, as Tony put it (quoting Bart Ehrman of all people!), “If you believe God wrote a book, wouldn’t you want to read it?” And as preachers, knowing that God has written a book, surely we would want to preach it!
The Christian life is marked by a life of discipleship, both in being a disciple of Jesus and in discipling others. On this retreat weekend with special guest Ryan Griffith, we looked at what exactly discipleship means, the cost and joy of our own discipleship and discipling others, the practical example that Paul gives us to follow, and the power we have in Jesus' name to disciple.
This letter to our Grace Church (GCD) Body will do double-duty: it is my contribution to our January Graceful Living and also our 2017 Annual Report. In Graceful Living it will introduce a new format you’ll see in our printed Annual Report, and in that document it will introduce similar letters from other ministry leaders that give praise to God for all He accomplished here in 2016.
The response was a less than enthusiastic, slightly annoyed, “Nick who?” I foresaw that this response would lead to an awkward situation once my identity became known, so I attempted to head off the awkwardness by jumping around the corner, pointing to my face, and saying “It’s this Nick!”
