Grace Abounding

In the last year, the Lord keeps bringing passage of Scripture to my attention on “enduring” and “persevering” in trials, hardships, and pain. In particular, the book of James extols the value of learning endurance. But how do we learn to persevere, for life under the curse is pretty tough? I think the key to learning to endure is constantly running to the person of Christ and to the promises of God that Christ fulfills.

My friend and former professor, Dr. Ed Glasscock, recently discussed from the book of James how to learn to run the race with endurance and touches on those two keys. In the video below, he takes time to succinctly and simply summarize James’s teaching on endurance. It and the other video discussions on his site are well worth a few minutes of your time:

What should our goal be when interacting with another Christian who disagrees with us? Don’t just knock down their incorrect view; persuade them of the truth, of course! However, the art of disagreeing with another Christian charitably and persuasively, demonstrating their errors, and effectively showing them the truth, is little-practiced today. I cringe when reading theological Christian blogs, which are rife with unfair and uncharitable arguments, and where commenters do not seek to understand the other point of view, but just blast away.

And so I commend to you Tim Keller’s four articles on “Gospel Polemics” as perceptive guidelines for disagreeing with another Christian and winning them over to what is true. Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and a founder of The Gospel Coalition gives seven rules for engaging in theological controversy..in a healthy way. These are helpful for seminarians, pastors, a church members to know how to engage in theological discussion with people you disagree with, so you can win them over to the truth.

Gospel Polemics: Part 1
Gospel Polemics: Part 2
Gospel Polemics: Part 3
Gospel Polemics: Part 4

HT: Thanks to Garrett Lee, my fellow pastor at Grace Church of Alexandria, for pointing these articles out to me.

Starting Sunday, January 29, 2012, an Adult Bible Class will be held on Sundays from 9:25 AM –10:10 AM at Grace Church of Alexandria, prior to the 10:30 AM worship service. This year’s theme is “Christian Beliefs: 20 Life Transforming Truths.” Yes, for you folks who are sleepy on Sundays at that time, coffee will be served.

The new Sunday schedule at Grace Church of Alexandria:

• 9:25 AM – Adult Bible Class (childcare isn’t provided at this time)
• 10:30 AM – Corporate Worship Service (childcare is provided)

Grace Church of Alexandria is hosting a seminar on Parenting With Faith and Wisdom on Saturday, February 4 from 9:30 am–3:30 pm, which you can register for here. The speaker is Rodney Pearce, father of four and Pastor of Families at Calvary Bible Church in York, PA. Everyone who attends Grace Church is welcome to come, and anyone from the community too. Please invite friends from the community to attend with you!

Parenting With Faith & Wisdom
When: February 4, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm
(if you can’t make the whole seminar, sign up and note what part you can attend.)
Where: at Franconia Baptist Church, 5912 Franconia Road, Alexandria 22310
Who: For parents, aspiring parents, GraceKids workers, and anyone wanting to learn about helping children treasure God
Kids: Childcare provided by screened childcare workers
Book Table: GraceBooks will have a selection of parenting books and kids books available at the seminar by donation.
Free Gift! Every couple/individual will receive a free book from the GraceBooks Table
Lunch: Catered by Panera Bread (parents, please bring lunch for your child)
Cost: $9 per adult / $18 per couple

REGISTER HERE Please register by Sunday, January 29th.

Pastor Rodney Pearce and his family

 Topics for discussion include:

• The Source of Parenting Wisdom and the Goal of Parenting
• Getting to The Heart of Behavior
• Temperament and Development
• Salvation, Faith and Repentance, and Discipline
• Roles in Parenting
• A Smorgasbord for Further Reflection

Today my friend Jordan Minnick shared with me this prayer about the incarnation. It’s a fitting reminder to render praise to Jesus at Christmas for coming to rescue us. This prayer is entitled “The Gift of Gifts” and is drawn from the rich collection of Puritan prayers published in a prayer guide called The Valley of Vision. From time to time we include historic prayers like this in our church services to teach us how to pray. The prayer as listed below has just a bit of modernized wording compared to the original. 

“The Gift of Gifts”

What shall I render to you for the gift of gifts;
Your own dear Son, begotten not created,
My Redeemer, my proxy, my surety, my substitute;
Self-emptying, incomprehensible;
His infinity of love beyond the heart’s grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders:
He came below to raise me above,
Was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is love:
When I cannot rise to Him, He draws near on wings of grace,
To raise me to Himself.

Herein is power:
When Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
He united them in indissoluble unity,
The uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom:
When I was undone, with no will to return to Him,
And no intellect to devise recovery,
He came, God-incarnate, to save me
To the uttermost,
As man to die my death,
To shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
To work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds,
And enlarge my mind;
Let me hear good tidings of great joy,
And hearing, let me believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
My conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,
My eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;

Place me with ox, donkey, camel, goat,
To look with them upon my Redeemer’s face,
And in Him account myself delivered from sin;
Let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my heart,
Embrace Him with undying faith,
Exulting that He is mine and I am His.

In Him you have given me so much
That heaven can give no more.

Check it out! CCEF Now! is a free regular magazine that launched last week to help apply the gospel through the Scriptures to everyday life.

CCEF is a biblical counseling organization that writes, teaches, preaches, and counsels biblical truth to problems in daily living. I am thrilled at the publication of CCEF Now! so that many of the articles, ideas, and counselors that I benefit from as a pastor are now accessible to every Christian for free. As a resource for counselors, it is geared to believers who are speaking truth into broken lives. Yet the message and hope offered address situations and struggles everyone faces, and so every Christian would benefit from checking out www.ccef.org or following @ccef to read the latest magazine issues.

Here’s a sampling of articles and topics from Issue #1”

• “Living Biblically” by Mike Emlet
• “Preventing Sexual Misconduct in Counseling”
• “Meaningful Acts of Easily Forgotten Kindness”
• “Journal of Biblical Counseling Lives in Progress” by David Powlison
• “What Has Helped You In Your Troubles?” by Ed Welch
• “Embodying Christ’s Love for the Shamed” by Winston Smith

I’m excited about this first issue and highly commend CCEF NOW! to parents, small group leaders, pastors, and any Christian who seeks to encourage and build up others.
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12.14.11 update – Today I received a copy of CCEF NOW! in the mail, so evidently the magazine is also in print. Well worth it to sign up on CCEF’s mailing list to receive.

The following is a guest blog post by Nathan Young, pastor and missionary to Scotland who has been a visiting speaker at Grace Church of Alexandria.

Title: When Will My Life Not Suck: Authentic Hope for the Disillusioned
Author: Ramon Presson
Publisher: New Growth Press, 2011
ISBN: 9781935273806
Pages: 150

When a review copy of Ramon Presson’s new book, “When Will My Life Not Suck?” appears in the mail, I have mixed feelings. I deeply appreciate New Growth Press, and I read nearly everything they publish. Ramon Presson intrigues me as a new author, but his book’s title really bothers me. It seems over the top—even rude—and the words “NOT SUCK” stick annoyingly in my mind. This tension between my admiration for New Growth and my aggravation over the title motivate me to read.

Ramon quickly demonstrates skill as a writer and an insightful observer. He draws from his years of experience as a Christian marriage and family therapist, and he reveals his own struggles with depression, anxiety, and despair. The book is accessible to a wide audience from young adults to seniors and believer or non believer. It is also brief (150 pages) and non technical so someone in the grip of suffering can summon the strength to read it.

This is not a self-help book, offering secret steps from depression to a happier life. Instead, Ramon writes out of his own weakness and models an increasing dependence on the gospel. Tracing Paul’s themes from his letter to the Philippians, Ramon addresses real life problems, asks perceptive questions, and shows readers a large God—the source of hope. For anyone in the midst of depression, anxiety, despair, or loneliness, “When Will My Life Not Suck?” is a companion through the journey. It wisely guides the depressed to hope, and it prepares the encouraged for depression.

“When will my life not suck?” is a blunt question. It makes us wince in discomfort because, if we are honest, it strikes too close to home. That’s why I am grateful Ramon Presson tackles the issue with serious reflection and Biblical hope. I recommend this book to anyone caught in depression, a friend of someone who is struggling, and church leaders who counsel the weary. It could easily be used for one-on-one discipleship or small group discussions. And the title is more than provocative—it is a perceptive lifeline to miserable sinners who need God.

This blog post first appeared at Nathan Young’s blog, Immeasurable Grace and is posted by permisson here at Grace Abounding.

If you’re struggling with a sin that seems to keep on defeating you, where can you turn for strength to overcome? If you’re trying to help a friend who is in despair, heal a broken marriage, or aid a believer who struggles with anorexia or bulimia, what source of power can you point to that can surely change them?

Today I received a letter from a friend and counselor, Dr. Jim Newcomer, who gets right to the heart of the matter. Listen to what he identifies as the power in biblical counseling, that is, counseling that comes on the Bible:

Biblical Counseling is to be Redemption-Anchored. Merely opening a Bible and reaching for topical treatments of counseling themes does not alone constitute “Biblical” counseling. Such an approach may even produce a transaction-mindset (i.e. legalism) that makes demands such as, “I have read and understood what the Bible says about my problem, so God must change everything now.” For the child of God, all spiritual changes are directly tied to the Gospel (Rom 6-8, Eph 4, Col 3). In other words, once a person has experienced regeneration, any spiritual issue he will ever face will have its solution anchored in his positional status and resources in Christ (2Pet 1:2-4). To give answers, even “biblical” answers, that are not direct extensions of redemptive truth is to be inconsistent with the Gospel.

Our position in Christ, our relationship with Christ, and the resources of Christ are where we can turn and point people for lasting change! If you are looking for for true and lasting change, I invite you to come to Grace Church of Alexandria to hear more about Jesus Christ. Our preaching, our community groups, our pastoral counseling all find their hope and source in Christ.

Along with Redemption-Anchored counseling, Dr. Newcomer calls for Text-Driven, Christ-Exalting, and Local Church-Centered counseling. I’m grateful for the sound training in biblical counseling our pastors Garrett Lee and I received from Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Virginia Beach where Dr. Newcomer is Professor of Pastoral Theology. As Jim described, it’s our endeavor at Grace Church to take our brokenness and struggles to the feet of the cross and there “find grace help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

Spending time with your extended family for the holidays is often one of the most anticipated, and stressful, times of the year. In his recent article “Family Tensions and the Holidays,” Dr. Russell Moore wrote the following about holidays with family:

“We tend to idealize holidays, but human depravity doesn’t go into hibernation between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. One thing that will hit most Christians, sooner or later, are tensions within extended families at holiday time.”

Then, with a bit of humor and piercing wisdom from Scripture, he gives five values to pursue in your time with family over Thanksgiving and Christmas:

1. Peace.
2. Honor.
3. Humility.
4. Maturity.
5. Perspective.

I heartily recommend you read his full article here, entitled “Family Tensions and the Holidays.” It was a good reminder for me on how Christ would have me love my family members this Thanksgiving and Christmas.