#1 | YOU

Pray. Ask the Lord to bring several unconverted friends' names to your heart. Pray earnestly for their salvation.

#2 | FRIENDS

Invite your friend(s) to come to church with you at least one Sunday between March and May. Preferrably more than that.

#3 | GRACE

The preaching pastors are committing to the body to be seeking the Lord's face to preach as clearly and simply the whole gospel each Sunday, including the bible's instruction for how one must respond. Pray for us!

#4 | LUNCH

When you invite your friend to church, arrange also to host him/her/them for lunch the Sunday they attend.

#5 | MEMBERS

Invite a fellow Grace member/family to join you for lunch to help with meal preparations, build a new relationship, pray, and to help commend Christ during the lunch conversation. Don't let living far away stop you from being involved. Talk to someone else in the body, and figure it out together.

#6 | GOSPEL

Launching from the morning's sermon, or however you can get there, turn the conversation toward the gospel. Explain God's Jesus-centered saving truth. Welcome questions and dialogue. Lovingly call for repentance and faith. Seek to arrange 4 to 5 times in the next 2-3 months to read the gospel of Mark (independently) and talk about it (together).

#7 | REPEAT

Repeat the entire process until God says stop (i.e. When you get to heaven).

Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great suject of the Deity. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godheads's deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.

That's because God the Father gives us a window into His own delight into the Immutability of God the Son in Hebrews 1:10-12. Marinate your soul in those words!

Even if you won't be at Grace, or if you will be there, but are working the nursery, don't skip those words. Be unwilling to let go of God until you are granted God's own delight in His immutable Son.

Have you ever been at that, "My mind and heart are about to explode because I can't go any higher or deeper into God's truth at this time" kind of place, only to have someone grab your hand and say, "Sure you can, let's go?" Being that type of tour guide is Steven Charnock's job in his book, The Existence & Attributes of God. He's relentless. No rest stops. No breaks. He keeps climbing. Every, "It can't get any better" paragraph seems to be topped by Charnock's next sentence.

Just when you think, "Ah, there we go, a nice look at God's changeless character," you read another paragraph only to realize the sun's still rising, and heretofore you've only seen God's brightness shining over the horizon, not the sun. I'm being devastated by his tour of God's Immutability. In a good way.

I'm typing now because my mind is stammering. "Uhh, umm, yea, okay." That's the way my soul feels right now. Life application dominatates the pages. Charnock isn't interested in theory. He's interested in being changed into Christ's likeness.

His banner text for the chapter is our text for Sunday. Pray that I'll distill what would be helpful for God's people to hear, and be able to leave behind what should be left behind. Clearly, we can't empty the barrell of God on any given Sunday, and this one is no exception. Where to go. Where to refrain. That's where I need your prayer. Please!

Pray that Hebrews 1:10-12 would be the Jesus that I know and experience and preach. He's more vast than anyone, save God, has ever imagined. No one, save God, will ever exhaust the knowledge of His excellent Person and infinite gospel work.

Sunday I'm going to do my best to display my ignorance.  That's because I'm going to be sharing the view I can see of Jesus's Immutability from where I now stand. My sight is woefully short of His complete character.

Please pray for me to see more of Him. Please! To know more of Him. Please!

I'm praying exactly that for you, Grace Church.

PS - Sometime soon sell your car and buy the book.

Christ: The Fullness of Joy

“Let us mark…how Christ indicates that when His joy abides in us our joy is full (John 15:11).

Joy depends much less on what we have, than on what we are. You may give me this and that, and everything that can be thought of, yet in my soul there be no wave of joy.

But change me inwardly; make me like Jesus; let me, like Him, hate wickedness and love righteousness with the whole force of my nature; let me abide, like Him, in the Father’s love; let my heart, like His, flow over with loving feelings on every side; let me, like Him, delight in doing God’s will, and in finishing, day by day, the work given me to do; let me, like Him, live in expectation of the glory that is to be revealed when He appears with His holy angels, when His redeemed are all gathered from east and from the west, from the north and from the south; then shall not my joy be pure, deep, and real? Shall my joy not even now be unspeakable and full of glory?”

William Garden Blaikie’s, The Inner Life of our Lord, 97-98.

Prayer can be empty, and often is, but it doesn't have to be. We should expect our Father's favorable response.

Can God bless your prayers?

The hindrance, if we are Christ's, is that we're coming to God in "prayer" from a vantage point that He will not bless. If we do not belong to Christ, then the issue is deeper. You must be reborn. You must be made spiritually alive through faith in the Savior, the risen Lord Jesus.

So many have found continual Christian growth relegated to something that more resembles a permanent pit-stop on the road to nowhere. Sure, we may pray for God to change us, and for God to work powerfully. We may sincerely, at least in the moment, want to be changed. Why then is our growth stalled?

Unbelief, God-belittling, self-serving requests, and other roots are hindrances to answered prayer. There are a number of other reasons, too. It's probable that among the many reasons, there's one at the bottom of them all.

In my own experience with Christ, it seems to (all to often) come back to this one issue:

Do I believe that Jesus is worthy and do I desire for Him to be honored (worth-ed) in my life?

Here's the root issue. The spirit of our praying reflects the bent in our heart. What do we most want?

When I'm praying according to Scripture for God to hear and respond because I want Jesus to be glorified by God's answer, there is a corresponding result of greater delight in Jesus and a (yes, mostly slow) metamorphasis into His likeness.

In short, one way to combat all that wars against Christ's Lordship in us, is to pray fervently that God would give us (you) to Jesus as a gift. That is:

• A "continually transformed more into Jesus' likeness as the reward for His sufferings" gift.
  
• A "Jesus is worthy for me to never get stalled in conformity to His image" gift.
• An "I cannot manufacture true change on my own, so for Christ's sake do it, O Lord" gift.

When the main motive changes from "it would be nice for God to do this" into "Jesus is worthy, so please answer, O God," I believe God will be pleased to work powerfully.

Are we inclined and asking for Jesus to be glorified in answer to our requests? Is Christ's honor in your life your uppermost desire in your praying?

If not, then some serious uprooting is in order. And this garden should be weeded continually.

Three Practical Suggestions

1. If you find that the desire for Christ to be glorified in your life as God gives you to Him in greater conformity to His likeness is altogether absent, then go to the Bible and find true Christians, get to know the real gospel, and pray for Christian conversion. Pray to be "saved" for Christ's sake!
   
2. If you find that the desire for Christ to be glorified in your life as God gives you to Him in greater conformity to His likeness is woefully lacking, then pray for your Lord Jesus to be glorified as God magnifies His worth in your ongoing tranformation to His likeness. Pray for the work of the Holy Spirit to be revived in your life.
   
3. If you find that the desire for Christ to be glorified in your life as God gives you to Him in greater conformity to His likeness is on the rise, then pray for your Lord Jesus to be glorified as God magnifies His worth in your greater transformation to His likeness. Pray that your life will prove that you have not yet arrived.
   

“The lighter forms of joy, when they involve no sin, need not be banished from our life—bodily recreation, social mirth, lively books and lively conversation. But their place will be secondary; the great fountain will be Christ’s fountain. Nay, we will be jealous over ourselves with godly jealousy, lest we so drink of lighter joys of life as to spoil our relish for the deeper river that makes glad the city of our God.” - William Garden Blaikie, Glimpses of the Inner Life of our Lord, 98.

This just in, and worth passing along:

Long-term Haiti relief plan in place

Feb. 15, 2010

 

ALPHARETTA, Ga. -- Southern Baptists’ long-term relief response to the Haiti earthquake will be led in Haiti by a six-member coordination group, making plans that will be implemented by a team of experienced disaster relief specialists who will work through Haitian Baptist churches.

That decision was made Feb. 11-12 in Alpharetta, Ga., by representatives of four Southern Baptist organizations meeting at the North American Mission Board’s offices. The relief effort will be coordinated by representatives on the ground from Baptist Global Response, the Florida Baptist Convention, International Mission Board, NAMB and two Haitian Baptist conventions -- the Confraternite Missionaire Baptiste d' Haiti and the Convention Baptiste d'Haïti.

Fritz Wilson, the Florida Baptist Convention’s disaster relief director, will serve as the incident commander on the ground in Haiti. Wilson’s team, which will include experienced Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers, will implement countrywide ministry strategy set by the coordinating group, said Jim Brown, U.S. director for Baptist Global Response.

“The coordination group will begin working immediately on identifying specific projects and locations, which in turn will determine specific volunteer needs,” Brown said. “They will be in constant communication with the incident command team as decisions are made. There are still many internal logistics issues to be resolved -- lodging, security, transportation and translation -- before teams can begin working on the ground.”

Based on reports from the disaster relief efforts over the past two weeks, five priorities for urgent and intermediate response have been identified: food distribution, shelter, water purification, medical teams and chaplains.

A “mirror” team in the U.S. will provide communication and mobilize resources, both financial and human, for projects identified by the “coordination” group, Brown added. News services are reporting that the Port-au-Prince airport will reopen to commercial traffic Feb. 19, making it possible for volunteers to travel directly into Haiti, rather than driving in from the Dominican Republic.

During the meeting, Wilson, who returned from an assessment trip to Haiti last week, recalled the sound of familiar hymns sung in Creole rising above the rubble as Haitian Christians gathered for worship one recent Sunday morning.

“Churches all across Port-au-Prince, Carrefour and other communities were meeting outside the walls of their buildings because they were either destroyed, damaged or the fears of the people prevented them from going inside their buildings,” Wilson said.

Many of the camps where displaced Haitians have set up temporary shelters are located near Haitian Baptist churches, Wilson reported.

“Time and time again, we noticed that where there was a cluster of people living in tents, God had left a church intact to minister to those people,” Wilson said. “We have a divine opportunity to come alongside Haitian Baptists in order to meet the needs of those affected by the earthquake. Our response has to be done through the Haitian church, there is no doubt.”

The incident command team will help identify ministry locations and resource them with volunteers. They also will work with leaders from the two Haitian conventions to coordinate volunteer housing, transportation, ministry sites, security and other in-country logistics.

The group wrestled with the challenges of placing volunteers on the field where housing and transportation are limited and security remains an issue.

The North American Mission Board’s Disaster Operations Center will open Feb. 15 to support the operation, said Mickey Caison, NAMB’s team leader for adult volunteer mobilization.

Medical and well drilling teams already have begun work in Haiti, Caison said. Once logistics are in place and the incident command team is on the ground, more teams will be able to enter to work on water purification, food distribution and temporary shelter.

The group affirmed Haitian pastors and church members who have been reaching out to earthquake survivors since day one with support from Southern Baptists.

“We have the opportunity to be the people of God during the midst of great hurting,” said Cecil Seagle, director of the Florida Baptist Convention's mission division. “In the midst of this event, there is a cross and a Christ. We want to lift up Jesus Christ and make Him known. We also want to undergird the church in Haiti so that it would transform the culture of that nation.

“There is a heart hunger to see lives changed,” Seagle continued. “We want volunteers to be intentionally responsible for conveying the Good News of Jesus in any way possible.”

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Network leaders said volunteers need to be spiritually as well as physically prepared. Plans are being made to give volunteers training that is specific to the Haiti response.

“God is doing something amazing among the churches in Haiti, and we are coming alongside them to strengthen them and help them share the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the country,” said Bruce Poss, NAMB’s disaster relief coordinator. “We've got to tie the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the transformation of life to all that we do.”

Right now, Southern Baptists are being asked to fill “Buckets of Hope” that will be sent to Haiti in the coming months. Churches and individuals can purchase and assemble five-gallon buckets for Haitian families packed with enough food to feed a family for a week. Even after Haitians use the supplies, the bucket can serve multiple uses for a family. Visit www.namb.net/bucketsofhope to find a list of items to pack in the buckets.

Questions about pickup and delivery of buckets should be directed to state conventions. Monetary donations, designated for “Buckets of Hope” on the check, may be sent to the Florida Baptist Convention, 1230 Hendricks Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32257. Haitian Baptist churches in Florida will use those donations to purchase buckets and fill them with food.

Disaster relief leaders continue to emphasize that helping Haitians rebuild their lives and communities will be a long-term effort.

Already, SBDR has sent 77 volunteers to Haiti including six medical teams. Volunteers have distributed 20 tons of rice, given medical treatment to 6,482 patients, assisted 100 pastors, made 2,475 ministry contacts and have seen 98 professions of faith.

“This is bigger than any of us,” Caison said. “We are just a small part of a much larger thing that God is doing in Haiti. Our efforts will undergird church planting, evangelism and leadership development in order to transform lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and ultimately transform Haiti.”

–––
Written by Carol Pipes, publications coordinator for the North American Mission Board, with reporting by James Dotson and Mark Kelly.

To donate to the Haiti relief effort, please click here. Every dollar given will be used 100% in relief efforts conducted in partnership with local Baptist churches.

 

A downloadable bulletin insert raising awareness about relief needs in Haiti is available at gobgr.org.

 

Subscribe to BGR AlertNet by visiting our home page.

Who

Any and all ladies welcome! Bring a friend!

What

Ladies Fellowship. Hear from other ladies about how God is at work.

When

6:30PM, This Tuesday, February 16

Where

Spaghetti Warehouse, Downtown

Why

Your lasting joy in Jesus

Reckon with four things God said about Jesus in these verses:

1. Christ's Person -- v. 8, "...O GOD..."
2. Christ's Position -- v. 8, "...Your throne..."
3. Christ's Passion -- v. 9, "...love righteousness, hate lawlessness..."
4. Christ's Pleasure -- v. 9, "...GOD, YOUR GOD, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above Your companions."

HEBREWS 1:7-9 NASB

And of the angels He says,
"WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS,
AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE."

But of the Son He says,
"YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER,
AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.
"YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS;
THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU
WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS."

Lord willing, I'll see you at 9:00 for prayer, and 10:00 for praise.

Jordan

We are professional sinners. All of us. We will use anything and everything as a means of avoiding God.

Would the words "fresh encounter" accurately describe your current fellowship with Jesus? Notice, the question isn't, "Did you have your quiet time at least four out of seven days this week?" Any non-Christian can do that. Many do!

We're so messed up that we'll even use "Christian routines" to keep us away from Christ. How many times have we bowed our head before a meal and uttered religious words while not truly engaging the Living God? Painfully too many. We're so crafty that we can actually use God's ordained means of grace (i.e. bible reading, prayer) as another layer of defense against Him.

Rarely do we see that each pretentious "Christian activity" adds another block to the wall of broken fellowship between us and our Lord. While busying ourselves spreading the mortar of "spiritual disciplines," is our heart warm in the glow of God's presence?

A "quiet time" can as readily be used as a means of trying to soothe a seared conscience as a drinking binge. Yes, it is possible press the hot brand "Not Seeking God" against your soul while reading the Bible. Jesus had devestating things to say about those who employ prayerless praying (Matt. 7:21). What's our deal? 

If honest, who wouldn't admit to having employed "forms of godliness" while divine power was notoriously absent (2 Tim. 3:5). Before we know it, we can look in the spiritual mirror only to see all form and no substance. Do you find that you're living in the land of who you think you are rather than who you truly are? God isn't fooled.

Insanely, we will go on pretending devotion hoping God doesn't notice. But He who sits above the circle of the earth also searches the heart (Isaiah 40:22; Romans 8:27). God sees. He knows. And He woos us back to Himself.

God is willing to watch while our Pharisaical concrete sets in. "Jump through the hoops, never be transformed, and there's no growing pain" is the prescription label pasted across many who "name the Name" (Acts 5:41).

Like water, Christians too can gravitate toward the path of least resistance. Our flesh wants to resist God's transforming work. And in the routines of avoiding His transforming power, "lifeless life" flows and the heart remains parched and dry.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Christ is an ocean of delights for all who will have Him.

We've been convinced it's easier our way. We've bought the lie that floating in the sewer of apperances is more comfortable than actually having our hearts scrubbed with the friction of God's Word & Spirit. Wrong. Our way is harder.

Jesus said, "My yoke is easy" (Matthew 11:28-30). He promised to carry the load, to enter into our burdens, and to shoulder the brunt of the weight. But being "yoked" to Christ requires being close to Jesus. Being "double-yoked" to the Lord pictures closeness. Intimacy. That requires a heart that is close, not lips that blab while heart-experience is empty (Matthew 15:8).

"Piercing" is a great description of the Bible's effect on our souls (Hebrews 4:12). "Judging the thoughts and intentions of our heart" is something we cannot avoid when we come to God's Book. Oh to come with a heart desiring to be evaluated in the light of Christ. There will likely be hurt under the light of the Word, but it will be a hurt that heals. Seeing God for Who He is and being exposed for who we are is the first step toward times of real refreshing. Deep down that's what the Christian needs and it is what we truly want.

Because we want Jesus, no matter the cost. Let's be done with self-effort. Let's have our hearts happy in God.

15 Questions for Soul Evaluation

1. Have you lost the desperate and deep "Oh God" in your soul's cry to the Lord? (Psalm 17:6)
2. Does lingering in God's presence present itself to you as laborious or life-giving? (Psalm 84:10)
3. Does "spiritual alertness," like sensitive antenna, describe your soul's watchfulness? (Ephesians 5:24; Romans 13:11)
4. In the use of spiritual discplines, does your soul demand to quest for God until He be found? (Psalm 42:1-2; Jeremiah 29:13)
5. Does your soul feel bright with the glory of Christ? (2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Matthew 6:22-23)
6. Does the fear and glory of God seem to dominate the entirety of your heart? (Psalm 86:11-12)
7. How much allure (pulling power) does the world have to your heart? (James 4:4)
8. How much allure (pulling power) does greater experiential knowledge of Christ have to your heart? (Philippians 3:7-17; John 14:21-24)
   
9. Does the blessing of God present itself to your soul as more valuable than all the world? (Matthew 5:3-12)
10. Is loving obedience to Christ provoked to action when you consider that Jesus is your Lord? (John 14:15; Luke 6:46)
11. What place does boasting in self-effort have in your spoken or unspoken spiritual confidence? (1 Corinthians 1:30-31; Galatians 6:14)
12. Is the yearning to have Christ revealed to you through Scripture by the Spirit on the rise? (Ephesians 1:17; Luke 24:25-27, 44; Acts 28:23)
13. Would the glory and depths of Christ's Person and gospel work be delightfully digestible to you? (Hebrews 5:7-14)
14. Do you find your heart quickly running to God through Christ for confession and repentance when your sin is exposed? (1 John 1:7-10)
15. In your experience, is Christ your greatest Treasure? (Matthew 13:44)
    

So, which is it? Is the Christian dead or alive? It depends. The Bible says we are both.

The Christian is Dead

• Colossians 2:20 - "If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations"

The Christian is Alive

• Ephesians 2:5 - "even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved"
• Colossians 3:4 - "When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

The Christian is Simultaneously Dead & Alive

• Romans 6:4 - "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."
• Romans 6:8 - "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."
• Romans 7:4 - "Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God."

• 

  

  Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
• Colossians 3:3 - "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

"For those of us who have been a Christian for a while, it becomes easy to think that we've pretty much exhausted the possibilities of the Christian life. We can settle into a routine of activities at church and in our small group and bible studies, with little expectation of anything new. The familiar becomes the predictable, and everything from here on out will be more of the same. We dip our teaspoon into the vast ocean of the Living God. Holding that teaspoon in our hand, we say, "This is God." We pour it out into our lives, and we say, "This is the Christian experience."

God calls us to dive into the ocean. He calls us into ever new regions of His fullness, His immensity, His all-sufficiency. There is more for us in Christ than we have yet apprehended. Let's never think that we have Him figured out or that we've seen all He can do. The bible is not a guidebook to a theological museum. Its a roadmap showing us the way into neglected and even forgotten glories of the Living God." (41)

No matter how long you've walked with Jesus, don't limit your soul to the lie that your previous experience of Christ's favor must be the determining factor for how you should expect Him to graciously manifest Himself in the days ahead.

"He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." ~ Jesus, John 14:21

Think, for one example, of the fact that every Christian "understands" and believes in the Trinity!?! 

Before labelling me a heretic for the post's title, reckon with God's truth.

1. Christians Believe That Only God is Eternal, And Though We Are Not Eternal, We Believe That We Were (In God's Saving Plan) Before the World Was

Ephesians 1:4 - "...[God] chose us in [Jesus] before the foundation of the world."

2. Christians Believe That Though We May Now Live In The 21st Century, We Were/Are Also Present At Many Points in Redemptive History

A. YOU DIED WITH JESUS ON THE CROSS

Romans 6:8 - "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him."

Colossians 2:20 - "Since with Christ you died..."

Colossians 3:3 - "For you have died..."

B. YOU WERE RAISED WITH JESUS FROM THE DEAD

Ephesians 2:5-6 - "Even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with Him..."

Colossians 2:12 - "...you were also raised with [Jesus] through faith in the powerful working of God, Who raised Him from the dead."

C. YOU ARE PRESENTLY WITH JESUS IN HEAVEN

Ephesians 2:6 - "...raised us up with [Christ] and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 3:20 - "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ."

2 Corinthians 4:18 feels like fitting application to this meditation:

"...we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

I believe that God created man to join the angels in the ceaseless worship of Jesus. If you belong to Christ, you will one day soon be welcomed into that very experience, the glories of which will never end.

The gospel is inexhaustible. We are saved by Jesus and instantaneously granted the ability to appropriately worship the Triune and only God forever.

That's a snapshot of where we're headed on Sunday.

The best means I can think of to prepare your soul for being under God's Word with the people of Grace this Sunday is to worship Jesus now.

See you Sunday, Lord willing, Phil. 3:3 (look it up)

Jordan

Registration Deadline: This Thursday, February 4!

• What: Marriage & Family Enrichment Conference
• Where: Union Avenue Baptist Church, Midtown
  
• Guest Speaker: Dr. William Cutrer (former OBGYN, current marriage & family professor at Southern Seminary)
• Childcare: Provided
• Cost: $25/couple, or as much as you can afford.
  
• Also Included: Friday spaghetti dinner for the whole family, and a free book by Dr. Cutrer (pretty sweet dinner deal for the Thomas family!)
  

Pray for Jubilee. Pray for many more churches to emerge in the days ahead!