Grace Baptist Church

  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Meeting Times
    • Location
    • History
    • Leadership
  • Sermons
    • Sermons by Series
    • Sermons by Date
  • Blog
  • Connect
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Meeting Times
    • Location
    • History
    • Leadership
  • Sermons
    • Sermons by Series
    • Sermons by Date
  • Blog
  • Connect

BLOG

Sunday's Comin' 6/28/2014

6/28/2014

0 Comments

 
Last week, I posted a Sabbath hymn (by John Newton) on Saturday evening - some thoughts to help us prepare for worship on the Lord's Day. I also remember reading awhile back a Sabbath Eve's Prayer post and appreciated it.  I'm wondering if such a thing might be helpful on a regular basis to help us turn our thoughts towards the coming day of worship. We'll give it a try and see how it goes. It might be a prayer, a hymn, a catechism question, some thoughts from a trusted author on the Sabbath, etc. 
For now we'll call the Saturday evening post, Sunday's Comin' - the day of worship, the day of Christ's resurrection, and a day that helps us anticipate the 2nd coming of our Savior - The Lord's Day. Sunday's coming! Are you ready?
The following is a portion of a prayer taken from The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan prayers & devotions.
We are going to the house of prayer,
     pour upon us the spirit of grace and supplication;
We are going to the house of praise
     awaken in us every grateful and cheerful emotion;
We are going to the house of instruction,
     give testimony to the Word preached, 
     and glorify it in the hearts of all who hear;
     may it enlighten the ignorant,
          awaken the careless, reclaim the wandering,
          establish the weak, comfort the feeble-minded,
          make ready a people for their Lord.

Be a sanctuary to all who cannot come,
Forget not those who never come,
And do thou bestow upon us
     benevolence towards our dependents,
     forgiveness towards our enemies,
     peaceableness towards our neighbours,
     openness towards our fellow-Christians.
Amen. May God bless us as we gather for worship on his day!
0 Comments

Friday Fragments

6/27/2014

0 Comments

 
Back after a week off.
  • Things that made me happy this week: a clear answer to prayer; the US advanced to the knockout round in the World Cup.
  • Things that made me sad this week: court after court has been overturning same-sex marriage bans in state after state. Wednesday it happened to Indiana's ban; Thursday a same-sex couple was "married" in Warsaw, IN.
  • I'm contemplating a Saturday evening feature at the blog - thoughts to help prepare for Sunday worship. This one was from last Saturday. Who knows if this will become a regular feature, but who doesn't need a little help getting ready for worship?
  • If you're looking at pornography, you need to stop. Tim Challies gives 7 good reasons why. (If this is a battle you're losing and need help, don't be afraid to ask. Talk to your pastor; Contact us; get help.)
  • When you go to church, where do you sit? Here are some good reasons to SIT IN THE FRONT! Go on, read it. It's funny (maybe he'll convince you).
  • Kindle Deals - I've highlighted this book before, but now it is available in Kindle format for $.99 (regular price, I think). If you're hearing people and churches claiming that the Bible condones homosexual orientation and behavior, this will help answer those claims. If you haven't heard these arguments, you likely will soon. Be ready. Some things are always free for Kindle. Like Pilgrim's Progress and the ESV version of the Bible (You can also get it without cross references). At our house, we like to say, "If it's free, it's for me!"

If God is going to speak effectively to your fears, he must be both loving and strong, and indeed he is. – Welch

— CCEF (@ccef) June 21, 2014
0 Comments

A Sabbath Hymn

6/21/2014

0 Comments

 
John Newton wrote a lot of hymns you've likely never seen or sung. Here are some of the verses of his hymn for the Lord's Day. (If you like a tune to go with your lyrics, you can try the tune of "Shout for the blessed Jesus reigns", the Doxology, or any others with that meter.)
How welcome to the saints, when press'd
With six days' noise, and care, and toil,
Is the returning day of rest
Which hides them from the world a while?

How happy if their lot is cast
Where statedly the Gospel sounds!
The word is honey to their taste,
Renews their strength, and heals their wounds!

Though pinch'd with poverty at home,
With sharp afflictions daily fed,
It makes amends, if they can come
To God's own house for heav'nly bread!

With joy they hasten to the place
Where they their Savior oft have met;
And while they feast upon his grace,
Their burdens and their griefs forget.

This favour'd lot, my friends, is ours,
May we the privilege improve,
And find these consecrated hours
Sweet earnest of the joys above!

We thank thee for thy day, O Lord:
Here we thy promis'd presence seek;
Open thine hand, with blessings stor'd,
And give us manna for the week.
May God bless us as we come to worship him on his day!
0 Comments

Friday Fragments

6/13/2014

0 Comments

 
Here is today's offering. Leaving for vacation today; Friday Fragments will also be taking a break next week.
  • Don't stop praying. Sunday night I was privileged to witness two baptisms: one of an eighty-something (I think) year old woman; the other a 24 year old young man. They are two people who you might have been inclined to stop praying for. She must be too old to learn the gospel or respond to it; too far gone; but she wasn't too far gone. And the 24 year old had heard the truth from infancy, but had rejected it; sought satisfaction and comfort elsewhere. He was so lost you might think he couldn't be found. Well, God found him and the transformation has been nothing short of amazing. Good reminder to me to not give up hope as long as there is breath in the lungs of the one for whom you are praying.
  • Four good questions to ask before joining a church. These aren't exhaustive, but they are important. (I don't agree with the notion that looking for a church is sort of the last thing to do upon completing a move. What he says may just reflect the reality for most people and not be prescriptive, but the church search must be a priority in any move.)
  • One of my favorite books on marriage (it's required reading if you do pre-marriage counseling with me) can be had for just $1.99! What are you waiting for? Go buy When Sinners Say "I Do" and start reading it!
  • Bet you didn't know J.C. Ryle is on Twitter:

"Fear not because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor. Jesus can understand you." ~ J.C. Ryle

— J.C. Ryle (@JCRyle) April 26, 2014
0 Comments

Friday Fragments

6/6/2014

0 Comments

 
We're back with another installment...
  • What a tangled web we weave when first we enter a brave new world of technological advances and ill-defined morality. This story is over a year old and is not from a Christian perspective. But this is the world we live in now and we need to know the implications of radical life-altering technology and what we believe.
  • Kindle Deals - Kevin DeYoung's The Hole in Our Holiness, is just $.99. I have the hard copy. And a freebie from R.C. Sproul - Five Things Every Christian Needs to Grow. A great book for dads: What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him for $2.99.
  • Book deal - Iain Duguid was one of my OT professors in seminary - one of my favorite professors and I very much enjoy and benefit from his writing. Westminster Books is currently offering a ridiculous deal on 3 of his books: $20 for his commentary on Esther and Ruth (1 book), commentary on Ezekiel, and commentary on Daniel. If you need to beef up your OT commentary library this is a really good deal on some excellent books. (The Ezekiel commentary is currently back ordered. If you don't want all 3, they are also individually discounted, though not as steeply.) If I didn't have all 3 already, I think I'd be all over this. (This deal may be gone soon.)

Everything you cannot control is not out of control, but under the wisest of control, namely God 's.

— Paul David Tripp (@PaulTripp) June 2, 2014
0 Comments

Gardener or Enemy?

6/3/2014

0 Comments

 
I've recently seen this quote: "Death used to be an executioner, but the gospel [or "resurrection" depending on which version you find] has made him just a gardener" (George Herbert). This seems to be an attempt at a pithy summary of resurrection teaching from 1 Corinthians 15. I appreciate the sentiment for this reason: Jesus conquered death and the grave and those who die in Christ have certain hope of resurrection and eternal life. 
"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive...When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'...But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 15:20-22,54-55,57).
Praise the Lord! Death doesn't get the last word. The truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and all he has accomplished means that the dead in Christ will rise in the resurrection. I believe that Jesus as one song puts it, "laid death in his grave;" or another: "It is not death to die."

I love that truth, but I don't like the gardener quote. To call death a gardener makes death seem benign. To call death a gardener can call into question the suffering and mourning of those who love the one who died as though what they are mourning is really no big deal. 

But you know what? It is a big deal. I hate death. People I love are in pain right now because of death. The reality is that death is not a gardener, but an enemy; a wicked enemy. 1 Cor. 15:26 "The last enemy to be destroyed is death." Death is part of the curse because of the fall. Death hurts those who are still alive. Death is evil. If death is just a gardener, he is the most vicious, cruel gardener I've ever met.

That doesn't change the reality of Christ's conquering work! But it does perhaps give us a better perspective than Herbert's clever quote on why grief is so painful. It reminds us that it is ok to grieve because death is so unnatural and is an enemy. A defeated enemy to be sure, but an enemy nonetheless. Our perishable bodies have not yet put on the imperishable, and until they do, death remains an enemy.
0 Comments
    When I quote Scripture In this blog, unless otherwise indicated, the quotations are usually from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission.

    ​All rights reserved.

    Archives

    August 2021
    March 2021
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    March 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    January 2016
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

About

​Who We Are
Meeting Times
Location
History
​Staff
Sermons

By Series
​By Date
Connect

Email our Pastor

Copyright ©2021 Grace Baptist Church. All Rights Reserved.