Terry’s teaching on grace has radically changed thousands of Christian’s lives. In this video he argues that many who claim to love the doctrines of grace have never truly heard it in their heart. When you have watched this, go and visit his website and listen to him preach on grace. It could [...]
Tag Archive: grace
Why your church doesn’t feel like family
Mark Driscoll is at his very best in the following clip. Ever wondered how family and mission entwine, especially in a growing church where you don’t know anyone? Ever wished for more intimacy and a greater relational feel in your church? Ever felt neglected and rejected in your church? Ever felt like your church was [...]
A Morning Prayer
Last Sunday I posted a great Evening Prayer. This week I want to post an accompanying Morning Prayer. As with last week’s, this one comes from the Canadian and American Reformed Churches web site. I suppose at some point I should write about the value in praying written prayers. But for now, consider making this your prayer this morning:
Merciful Father, we thank You that in Your great faithfulness You kept watch over us during this past night. Strengthen and guide us by Your Holy Spirit, that we may use this new day and all the days of our life in holiness and righteousness. Grant that we in all our undertakings may always have Your glory foremost in our minds. May we always work in such a manner that we expect all results and fruits of our work from Your generous hand alone.
We ask that You will graciously forgive all our sins according to Your promise, for the sake of the passion and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Your grace we are heartily sorry for all our transgressions. Illumine our hearts, that we may lay aside all works of darkness and as children of light may walk in the light and live a new life in all godliness.
Bless the proclamation of Your divine Word here and in the mission fields. Strengthen all faithful labourers in Your vineyard.
We pray for those whom You have set over us, that as servants of You, the King of kings and Lord of lords, they may rule according to the calling You give them. Give endurance to all who are persecuted because of their faith and deliver them from their enemies. Destroy all the works of the devil. Comfort the distressed. Show Your mercy and help to all who call upon Your holy Name in sickness and other trials of life. Deal with us and with all Your people according to Your grace in Christ Jesus our Lord, who assured us that You will do whatever we ask in His Name. Amen.
Sponsor:
Video sermon on the gospel by Matt Chandler
About ten days ago, Matt Chandler preached the following sermon at Jubilee Church in London. In it he preaches the gospel, focusing in on the parable of the prodigal son from Luke’s gospel. Many readers will remember seeing Matt’s “Jesus wants the battered rose” illustration. If you want to see that illustration in context this [...]
On the Go
Yesterday I read Maggie Jackson’s book Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. In the book she shows how life today offers many more distractions than at any other time in history and how this may lead us into a new dark age. While I’m not quite sure I agree with all the talk of a dark age, certainly she makes many valid points along the way.
One way this societal distraction manifests itself is in the way we eat. Meals are no longer times to be spent with family savoring good food. Rather, they are times to quickly and effeciently refuel. In 2006, she points out, 1,347 products with “go” on the label debuted on the global market, a nearly 50 percent increase from the previous year. We can get our coffee on the go, our cereal on the go and everything else that we find we need.
She writes about Dr. Rapaille, a French-born consultant with a doctorate in medical anthropology who says, “Americans say ‘I’m full’ at the end of a meal because … [their] mission has been to fill up their tanks; when they complete it, they announced that they’ve finished the task.”
Here are a couple of other noteworthy and ponder-worthy snippets of her screed against eating on the go:
We need handheld, bite-size, and dripless food because we are eating on the run-all day long. Nearly half of Americans say they eat most meals away from home or on the go. Forty percent of our food budgets are spent eating out, compared with a quarter in 1990.3 Twenty-five percent of restaurant meals are ordered from the car, up from 15 percent in 1988.
…
Now we’ve left the fork behind, the casualty of a time-pressed age. But while we again eat with our hands, we’re rarely touching our sustenance. Wrappers, packaging, cans, straws, and the pace of life keep us from directly connecting with food until it’s halfway down our gullets. And the food itself, of course, is many steps removed from the drippy, messy, and sometimes wholly recognizable fare that graced many a groaning table of the past. In the name of civilization, we’ve moved toward clean, processed, and unobtrusive foods. A quiet fill-up, that’s what people tell [researchers] that they want. Nothing smelly, crackling, or noisy. We want food that takes a backseat to life-and we want it solo.
Sponsor:
Free Stuff Fridays
What a week. Going to conferences is great, but I always return home half dead (at best). Late nights at restaurants and early-morning meetings always sound great three weeks out. But they demand a cost. Nevertheless, Together for the Gospel was great, even if I haven’t yet recovered.
Let’s talk about this week’s Free Stuff Fridays. Our sponsor this week is Indelible Grace music. We’ll be giving out five prize packages, each of which contains:
- By Thy Mercy: Indelible Grace Acoustic
- Matthew Smith‘s The Road Sessions Collection
- Wake Thy Slumbering Children: Indelible Grace V
So that’s three albums for each of the five winners. And I love each of these albums. Each one of them contains a selection of reimagined hymns–old hymns set to new music. This is what Matthew and Indelible Grace have been doing for years now and they do it so well. At Grace Fellowship Church we sing lots of their hymns and continue to add new ones with every album release.
Rules: You may only enter the draw once. Simply fill out your name and email address to enter the draw. As soon as the winners have been chosen, all names and addresses will be immediately and permanently erased. Winners will be notified by email. The giveaway closes Saturday at noon.
Loading
Sponsor:
Come see a Christian triumphing over death!
We saw earlier how John Lancaster, a prisoner condemned to death in Newgate prison, had come to faith in Christ. Now we see him at his last moment and at his most triumphant. The year was 1748 and John Wesley recorded the events for future generations in his journals. As Lancaster was led out of [...]
‘Nothing to Trust in Except the Blood of Christ’
We continue the amazing accounts of grace given to those condemned to death in the 1700’s. John Wesley recorded these testimonies of men facing execution, in his own journals, giving them a wider audience than they might have otherwise had. They had been faithfully visited by Sarah Peters. She shared the gospel with them and [...]
Noisy Meetings!
The Problem of Praiseless Praise and Joyless Joy! Most Christians are used to passion in their gathered church meetings. It would be strange, in a perfectly logical sense, to encounter strict formality, dull routine and lacklustre praise (how can you praise someone blandly, with praiseless praise, joyless joy?) The Bible repeatedly exhorts us to praise [...]
Don’t Become Weary of Doing Good
God gives us encouragements in the midst of difficulties. And each encouragement is deeply appreciated. Your leadership challenge may be tough for reasons that are entirely outside yourself. It’s great to hear news of numerical breakthroughs and blessing in other places. We’re often helpfully stirred to pray and believe for greater breakthrough in our own [...]