Model Citizens

We went to the Pregnancy Care Center of Chandler's annual banquet last night. Had a good time. RiLee and Alex went and sat with some others from DPC. Not sure what they ate for dinner at their table but obviously is was good. Or maybe this picture was in response to Alex winning the "You Rock Basket" at the silent auction. Not sure I've ever put baskets and "rocking" together- but thanks to Alex, now I do.

Yes- I can be goofy with a camera. Evidently it's contagious.

More Bridges

Some see holiness and grace this way:

The grace of God and the vigorous pursuit of holiness cannot be brought together: they seem like direct and unequivocal opposites to me, sort of like *jumbo shrimp*.

That made me laugh- jumbo shrimp indeed. Bridges answer is, of course, that grace and personal discipline go hand in hand.

Jerry Bridges: The Discipline of Grace

This is the book that our thursday morning men's group will go through.



The Discipline of Grace: God’s role and our role in the pursuit of holiness

“Does the fact that God has forgiven us all our sins mean that He no longer cares whether we obey or disobey? Not at all. The Scripture speaks of our grieving the Holy Spirit through our sins (Ephesians 4:30). And Paul prayed that we “may please [God] in every way” (Colossians1:10). We grieve God and we please God. Clearly, He cares about our conduct and will discipline us when we refuse to repent of conscious sin. But God is no longer our Judge. Through Christ He is now our Heavenly Father who disciplines us only out of love and only for our good.” Pg18.

Whadaya think? Grace and judgment incompatible?

More Old Prayers

My God,

I bless thee that thou hast given me the eye of faith,

To see thee as Father,

To know thee as a covenant God,

To experience thy love planted in me:

For faith is the grace of union by which I spell out my entitlement to thee:

 

Lord, awake faith to put forth its strength

Until all heaven fills my soul

And all impurity is cast out.

 

 

Old Prayer

This is from a book of old prayers:

To thy grace and the care of thy covenant I commit myself, in sickness, and in health, for thou hast overcome the world, fulfilled the law, finished justifying righteousness, swallowed up death in victory, and taken all power everywhere. Mark this covenant with thine own blood in the court of forgiving mercy.

He has taken all power everywhere.
This reminds me of the end of Psalm 2.

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Take refuge in the court of forgiving mercy.

Spread of the Faith

This is Bernard Lewis giving a history of the Middle East over the past two thousand years. Secular academics rarely understand the why but this one at least accurately relates part of the what of Christianity.

This accessibility of Hellenistic culture, Jewish religion and Roman polity all helped to prepare the way for the rise and spread of Christianity, a missionary religion whose followers believed that they were the possessors of God's final revelation, which it was their sacred duty to bring to all mankind.

Yep, that's pretty much us.

Full Lord's Day

This next Lord's Day is an exciting one. We're having a baptism and the Lord's Supper- we're starting Sunday school back up and we're also having a string quartet play in the worship service along with our piano accompanying hymns.