November 2009 Entries
November 28th, 2009
No one does missions perfectly. But that's no excuse to refrain from
supporting the work of those who are imperfectly making an attempt.
A Personal Challenge
Unless
you can develop and execute a better plan between now and this
Christmas to accomplish the following list, I want to strongly
encourage you to pray about how sacrifically the Lord would have you support global missions through the Lottie Moon Christmas offering. Here's a sampling of where the funds will go (100% of the LM offering goes toward the work of cross-cultural missions)
- Support the livelihood and ministries of 5,500 missionaries serving Christ's cause around the world...
Read more
Filed under Grace Church and Jesus
November 27th, 2009
Our attention in Sunday's sermon will be devoted to the final phrase
of Hebrews 1:3, which describes God as "the (enthroned) Majesty on high."
- Prepare your heart to worship the Lord with His people this coming Lord's Day by seeking His face now.
- Pray earnestly for God to reveal Himself and revive us to rejoice in Him (see Psalm 85:6).
- Participate in the 9AM corporate prayer meeting.
- Ready your heart to hear from God through the body...and to allow them to hear from Him through you. We
will spend a few moments after the sermon allowing the congregation to
share a word of exhortation and application that will reinforce the
truth of the sermon to our hearts. This Sunday's is our second
"application sermon" in our Hebrews' series. After each of the
application sermons in our series, we have planned for these "after
meetings."
Pray also for Pastors Bryan & Nathan who will be preaching at Calvary Baptist on Sunday AM & PM respectively.
Read more
Filed under Grace Church
November 26th, 2009
This Thanksgiving morning I was reviewing memory in Hebrews.
As I was doing so,
the Lord dealt with my heart in several fresh and kind ways that
prompted spontaneous thanksgiving for the people of Grace Church...
Read more
Filed under Grace Church
November 24th, 2009
I've been preparing a series of short posts on Grace's newest
international missions partnership -- this time, India. (I haven't
forgotten that I still owe a Nigeria update too! Stay tuned).
First, though, it seems helpful to me to re-introduce Grace's vision for local and global missions.
Although this post is more lengthy than most, I hope our church
members will read it with care, prayer, and a heart for engagement in
healthy discussion that will sharpen our understanding and heighten our
involvement in God's glorious work.
Grace's Plan for World Missions IS the Advance of the Local Church
Because of the teaching of the New Testament, Grace's primary "spreading" efforts for our city and for the unreached world are one
and the same. That is, our goal is to see local churches strengthened,
and new churches planted...
Read more
Filed under Grace Church and Jesus
November 20th, 2009
Annual Meeting
for Vision and Ministry Strategy for the Members of
Grace Church
Sunday November 22, 2009
- When: 5:30pm, concluding at 7:30. Childcare will provided for all children of members (pizza dinner provided for children).
- Where: Bridges
- Who: Covenant Members of Grace Church
- What: The elders will tremblingly (because this is true) attempt to lay out the Lord's plans for our life together as a congregation in 2010.
Read more
Filed under Grace Church
November 19th, 2009
Lord willing, this coming Sunday Grace Church will be focusing on
the truth that "Jesus made purification for sins" (Hebrews 1:3).
In
his systematic theology, Wayne Grudem has some helpful questions for
application regarding Christ's atoning work. Enjoy, and proceed with
care...
- If the ultimate cause of the atonement is found in the love and
justice of God, then was there anything in you that required God to
love you or to take steps to save you (when he looked forward and
thought of you as a sinner in rebellion against Him)?
- How does your answer to the previous question help you appreciate...
Read more
Filed under Grace Church and Jesus
November 18th, 2009
A true update to come soon, but for now, on behalf of the team, I
want to express thanks for all who faithfully prayed for us while we
were in India.
The Lord Jesus is powerfully at work in this country which boasts 1/5 of the world's people!
John 3:30, Jordan
Read more
Filed under Grace Church and Jesus
November 17th, 2009
In less than two weeks, the Advent season will be upon us. Though a longer post (or posts)...
Read more
November 14th, 2009
Though the week is quickly coming to a close, hopefully you have been nourishing the inner man through the Word, and preparing your heart to have a worshipful encounter with the Living God. Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will worship with Pastor Bryan in John 6, considering the second half of the twins: Saving Faith.
What can we do to aid in the preparation of our hearts for tomorrow's service? Glad you asked!
Read more
November 12th, 2009
Following Jordan's lead, I thought it might be helpful to post a poem this week to stir our heart's affections towards the Saviour. The poem, turned hymn, was written by Joseph Swain, and embodies the truths we have been swimming in over the past few months:
Read more
November 5th, 2009
Lord willing, a four-person team from Grace will be leaving tomorrow morning for ministry in Hyderabad, India. Please pray for our team, and for those they will seek to serve.
Read more
Filed under Grace Church
November 4th, 2009
This Sunday and next, Pastor Bryan will be preaching on Christian
conversion. The first sermon will focus on faith, the second on
repentance.
Here's a great couple of Sunday's to invite a
co-worker, family member, neighbor, fellow gas station fueler, mayor,
grocery store check-out person, waitress, classmate, barber, mechanic,
meter reader, pizza delivery guy, trash collector, doctor,
telemarketer, store greeter, random pedestrian, the person in the
parking garage ticket booth, barista, mailman (or lady), or someone
like that.
Read more
Filed under Grace Church
November 3rd, 2009
The comme
rcialism of Christmas is already upon us. Don't be hypnotized.
you "need" this
The shiny things on the shelves in the store aisles, or online, will be carefully wrapped in the package of necessity. "You need this. He needs that. She should have those...
Read more
Filed under Grace Church and Jesus
November 2nd, 2009
In the physical sense, it's only obvious that being hungry proves the
existence of our appetite. Hunger is your appetite's voice. And it will call out until its desires are met.
It's similar but not exactly the same in
the spiritual sense.
Physically, when we are hungry, we satisfy our appetite by eating until we no longer hunger. We eat to get full so that our appetite is turned from hunger to satisfaction.
That's not how it works for the Christian's spiritual appetite.
When
Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied," (Mt. 5:6) He was not showing that we
should momentarily nibble on God's provision for us in the gospel until
we no longer sense our need for righteousness. Jesus is showing that
the evidence that we are hungry is that we are being satisfied. This satisfaction comes through feasting upon Christ.
Spiritual satisfaction, unlike physical, comes as we are hungry and thirsty for righteousness...
Read more
Filed under Jesus
November 1st, 2009
Dear Anxious Inquirer after salvation,
Please read Charles Spurgeon's testimony carefully. I will be reading it to Grace Church this morning.
Sincerely, in Jesus, John 3:30
Jordan Thomas
Personally, I have to bless God for many good books; I thank Him for Dr. Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul; for Baxter's Call to the Unconverted; for Alleine's Alarm to Sinners; and for James's Anxious Enquirer;
but my gratitude most of all is due to God, not for books, but for the
preached Word,-and that too addressed to me by a poor, uneducated man,
a man who had never received any training for the ministry, and
probably will never be heard of in this life, a man engaged in
business, no doubt of a humble kind, during the week, but who had just
enough of grace to say on the Sabbath, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth."
The books were good, but the man was better...
Read more
Filed under Grace Church and Jesus
Grab our RSS feed