Please join us in praying for the leaders headed out this evening on a 24 hour retreat. Ask God to meet them as they labor to serve us with faith and joy. They need courage and strength and skill and gifting if we are going to go where God calls us to go.
We've asked everyone who accepted our challenge to read 12 books in 12 months to submit one sentence from every book they read. As John Piper says, “Books don’t change people, paragraphs do — sometimes sentences.”
This month's category was "A mystery or detective novel." and we should have seen this coming. We had a number of unusual sentences submitted. Here is a sample:
"Does your Lordship desire to be shaved?" - Sue
"Sunsets did that here (LA). Made you forget it was the smog that made their colors so brilliant, that behind every pretty picture there could be an ugly story." - David
"Which is it today," I asked, " morphine or cocaine?" - Lois
"As of tomorrow, you can go around saying that the pope slits the throats of babies and eats them, or that Mother Teresa of Calcutta was the one who put the bomb on the Munich train, and people will say, ‘Oh, really? Interesting,’ and they’ll turn around and get on with what they were doing." - Daniel
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 1 Cor 12:1
Learn more about how the Holy Spirit provides the power we need to serve him as the church. Our recent sermon series through 1 Corinthians is only scratching the surface and our small groups only have so much time to discuss together. Read a book or two on the subject. Don't be uninformed.
Pastor Eric preached from 1 Corinthians 14:1-25 this past Sunday. He exhorted us not to see the works of the Spirit in the life of the church as some kind of anomaly in the great arc of redemptive history. These grace-gifts (i.e. charismata) were not something only the very first Christians needed. They are for us today too.
Spiritual gifts are part of the often ordinary, mundane, overlooked providence of the Father, in concert with the Son and Spirit, for his purposes and glory as He works out His good for us until Christ returns. Tongues and prophecy are only the tip of the iceberg.
Whatever we understand about God's covenants has the power to shape everything else we believe about the Bible. Charles Spurgeon said that "he who well understands the distinction between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, is a master of divinity.” Sunday School is where we'll become masters!
Come to Sunday School on August 21 as we begin a three week series that will help us discover answers to some of the following questions:
Join Jim and Angie (hosts) for a six week study designed to strengthen your marriage. Using the video series titled "The Art of Marriage", you'll spend time learning together in the group and alone as couples. This is a great way to grow healthy marriages in the context of community, learning from teachers like Wayne Grudem, Al Mohler, and Paul Tripp.
The next group meets Mondays, October 3rd through November 7th at Jim and Angie's residence. There is no childcare provided and the cost is $25 per couple.
Our neighborhood throws a huge party every Labor Day weekend. It's called the Orange International Street Fair and it feels like the whole world shows up. You have to see it to believe it.
Along with enjoying all the fun, there are many opportunities for you to get involved in our community by volunteering at a booth. It's a huge fundraiser for many non-profit organizations that serve our city.
We don't run a booth (yet!) but the Friendly Center is looking for volunteers right now. Go online an pick a time. Spend a few hours with your neighbors over Labor Day weekend.
