Grace Abounding

This Sunday Grace Church is getting a front row seat to God’s radical rescue work through the Gospel. We’ll be hearing from a modern-day Paul named Tim Keesee via video journal as he recounts how Christ’s saving grace has broken out in hard-to-reach places and as he explores places where the Gospel has never arrived. Join us at 10:30 am this Sunday (2/28) for a moving experience as we hear from the Word of God’s heart for people and see where God’s transforming grace is breaking into the world, to the praise of his matchless grace.

A Bold Advance from Dispatches From The Front on Vimeo.

The elders who have had the most profound influence on me are those who have overflowed with joy in and thirst for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Above all, they have shown me how to run to the cross every day to find in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection the power and pattern for the life of righteousness, hope, and faithfulness to which we are called. The Spirit-enabled application of the gospel to our daily living is the engine that  powers the Christian life.

Our quest at Grace Church of Alexandria to be a gospel-driven congregation is nothing new. In fact, it’s as old as the New Testament church itself. For the Apostle Paul sought to relate everything he taught to the churches “to Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

If you aspire to be a elder, if you are a pastor, or if you are searching for a church with pastors you can trust, Dr. Michael Barrett, president of Geneva Reformed Seminary, has given some incredibly helpful thoughts along this line:

“It is the chief business of the seminary to give ministers the knowledge of the gospel. . .The gospel of Christ is the answer to every issue of life. The gospel works, and it is the job of the minister to be the spiritual guide and advisor to his people to show them how it works. For this to happen, the fundamental need for ministers is the knowledge of the gospel–to know it firsthand and thoroughly. . .I am more than happy to have a brilliant student, and I have been occasionally happy in my career. But my principal concern in the seminary is to train men to have a personal and contagious passion for Christ.”

Inside GRS (Vol. 3, No. 2) November 2009, p. 3.

An elder who effectively shepherds his flock is one who knows and applies the gospel to his own life, and then turns around and helps his flock to know and apply the gospel to their own lives. As you pray for Grace Church of Alexandria, pray that God will make the gospel ever more precious to our Leadership Team so that we will see its relevance for our lives and our congregation’s daily living.

Note: A recent graduate of GRS, Lance Collins, and his wife Elisabeth, have joined Grace Church of Alexandria and are serving here. They were featured in the same newsletter where Dr. Barrett’s comments on the Gospel are found.

If you are passionate for God’s glory to spread and want to gather with others looking for practical ways to advance the Gospel in our world, Student Global Impact’s National Conference is for you. Garrett Lee and I attended one of the first SGI Conferences nearly 10 years ago, and we encourage you to consider going.

SGI National Conference is three days of biblical instruction, praise and worship of God’s greatness, networking with young people involved in missions efforts, and prayer for the nations. This year’s theme is “God’s Armor: Put It On.”

When: January 4-6, 2010

Where: Inter-City Baptist Church

Who: College students and young adults

How Much: Cost is $40 if you register by December 1, 2009. $50 if you register between December 1 and December 31, 2009. $60 if you register after January 2, 2010.

Register Now: Click here or Call 313.928.5222×506 (SGI Director Tim Aynes)

Getting Interviewed Via Skype

This morning during their chapel for students & faculty, my alma mater, Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Virginia Beach, interviewed me via video Skype about church planting & my seminary experience. I was thrilled to report back and give back to the local church-based seminary that showed us by example how Christ intends to build his church for God’s praise. We are particularly grateful for Central Seminary because three members of Grace Church of Alexandria (Garrett & Amanda Lee & I) are graduates of the seminary and received excellent preparation for Gospel ministry there. As well, two others from the local church where the seminary is based relocated to the Washington D.C. area and are helping us plant Grace Church.

Gospel-Centered Ministry

During the interview, Pastor Jim Newcomer asked me what urgent matters I want to convey to men and women preparing for ministry. I responded, first, make the Gospel central to your every day and learn how to relate it to every area of your life. For the life, death, burial and ascension of Jesus Christ are not just for non-Christians. These truths are at the heart of how to live as a Christian and minister God’s incredible grace to others. That’s why in every sermon and Bible study at Grace Church we relate the cross of Christ to the practical issues and struggles we all have in daily life. That’s also why in the first Bible studies of Grace Church, we studied through the book Living the Cross Centered Life.

Intentional Discipling Relationships

Second, I stressed that the seminary students ought to make discipling relationships a high priority. Find trusted believers and invite them to jump into your life, probe around, and help you run the race for God even more faithfully. And always be looking around for people in your life whom you can love as Christ loved and help them grow in the faith. 1 Thessalonians 2:8 says, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. . .” This Scripture text and many others couple the faithful teaching of the Word with the need for genuine, meaningful loving relationships.

I’m deeply grateful for the years of close friendship and faithful Word-centered teaching the faculty of Central Seminary of Virginia Beach provided me. Here inside the D.C. beltway, we endeavor to provide to our community the same kind of Gospel-centered ministry and meaningful relationships that have benefited us.

Why do you yearn for Christ’s coming? Is it to be free from the ravages of sin’s curse…disease, hardships, temptation? Is it so all on earth is made right by the Risen Christ? I’m listening to an album of songs sung by Ken Bartholomew, a friend and brother-in-Christ. I’m reminded to yearn for heaven, for the new heavens and new earth because God is there. God himself is the great treasure of the believer’s life to come.

Ken Bartholomew went home to be with Christ last fall. I mourn his passing. His singing in this album “Finally Home” is living on and causing me to search my heart. It’s a collection of songs he sang over the years during worship at Heritage Bible Church where he was a member. Many songs he was well-known for singing had as their theme the abiding presence of Jesus and his yearning to live with Christ in glory. I’m reminded anew of the incredible relationship with Father, Son, and Spirit that the cross has purchased for me, a lowly sinner who deserves only hell and separation from a Holy God forever.

What is it about the coming kingdom and eternity that I should long for? The New England theologian Jonathan Edwards helps me see more clearly:

“What is it which chiefly makes you desire to go to heaven when you die? Indeed some have no great desire to go to heaven. They do not care to go to hell; but if they could be safe from that, they would not much concern themselves about heaven. If it be not so with you, but you find that you have a desire after heaven, then inquire what it is for. Is the main reason, that you may be with God, have communion with him, and be conformed to him? that you may see God, and enjoy him there? Is this the consideration which keeps your hearts, and your desires, and your expectations towards heaven?”

(from Edward’s sermon, “God, the Best Portion of the Christian,” preached in April 1736)

In John 17:3, our Lord himself declared the same, when he defined eternal life: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to know Ken, a heavenly-minded worshiper, who has helped me treasure and thirst for you anew. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

A few years back, Pastor Sandy McCormick gave me an outline from a talk on marriage called “When Sinners Say I Do” that he heard from Dave Harvey. That outline helped me prepare for my marriage to Christy and understand how in our life together we must view each other in light of the Cross every day. I came to see how the Gospel is of first importance in our marriage, both to preserve and deepen our love for each other and to achieve the intent of marriage – to deepen our love for God (1 Corinthians 7:35).

The talk is expanded into a book called When Sinners Say I Do, the best book on marriage I’ve read. It’s 40% off at wtsbooks.com right now. If you are married or engaged, I highly commend you get the book and the study guide and work through it together.

Ever get tired of struggling with sin and wonder if God can really change you. Watch these cardboard testimonies and revel in the power of God’s grace to change us!

I don’t know anything about the church that posted this, but their celebration brought tears to my eyes, tears of sheer gratefulness to our Redeemer! We’re seeing the same gracious work of Christ in Grace Church that is changing us and giving us hope. Our current sermon series, The Gospel Driven Life, is examining just how to experience the transforming power of the Gospel in everyday life.

Today I’ve been considering how to can explain the glories of the Gospel to young children. How can my sermons be understandable and relate to kids? When we’re teaching a class in GraceKids, our children’s ministry, how can we explain the Gospel in a way that makes sense to them?

Jill Nelson’s talk, “Presenting the Gospel to Children,” has helped me discover simple yet vivid illustrations and clear definitions for “sovereignty,” “the image of God,” “righteousness,” and “sin.” Her talk from the 2007 Children Desiring God Conference provides a wealth of ideas.

For example, you want to teach that God is our “sovereign ruler”? Give the children crayons and tell them to draw and color whatever they want. Then, pick up the box of crayons and put it to your ear. Tell them you hear the crayons insisting they want to be something different than what the child is drawing. But that’s not right–that’s not the way it works, the children will insist! Crayons don’t determine what they should be…the person coloring does that! Presto–you’ve just clearly illustrated God’s right as our creator to rule our lives…in a way that the children will grasp.

To download the .mp3 or her helpful handout, click here, then scroll  down to her talk entitled “Presenting the Gospel to Children.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Can you imagine the thunderous praise that God and the Lamb will receive in glory from the saints of all the ages “to the praise of his glorious grace”? I’m thrilled that an album called Together For the Gospel Live has captured the powerful singing of the 5,000 voices at the T4G Conference to gives us a small taste of what that worship will be like in God’s presence.

In April of this year my wife Christy and I along with Garrett Lee had the distinct pleasure of soaking up Gospel truth at Together For the Gospel ‘08 (T4G) in Louisville, Kentucky. Christy and I were exhausted because we’d just driven down from D.C. to South Carolina for my ordination exam at Heritage Bible Church (I got a good grilling…but I passed!) and then on to Louisville for the conference. Nevertheless, we were filled with joy in seeing so many friends in ministry there and being reminded afresh of the wonder of the cross through the preaching at T4G. Can’t wait till T4G ‘10.

Last Sunday, God granted our church a rich time of fellowship & unity with Engleside Baptist Church, another local church in Alexandria. We celebrated a joint baptism & worship service where two from our congregation and four from theirs were baptized, picturing the power of the Gospel! Garrett shared our church plant’s story. Garrett, Shayne, and I fielded questions about church planting. I then spoke from 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 on Treasuring the Gospel. This was the closing service of their missions conference, and we were honored to celebrate our first baptisms and our first joint worship service with another church. We can’t wait to worship jointly with them again!

As the Spirit forged genuine love and joy between our congregations, we experienced firsthand the truth of Psalm 133:1  – “How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” Thank you, Engleside Baptist, for your love for God and for the greater body of Christ!

Incidentally, a serious electrical fire broke out on Monday, the next day, in Engleside’s church & school building. Everyone was evacuated safely. We’re praying the building will be cleaned of chemical and smoke damage for them to worship there this Sunday. Please lift up the brothers & sisters of Engleside Baptist in your prayers.