Grace Abounding

Sermon Title: Taking Off the Gloves
Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 10
Speaker: Jonathan Matías

Taking Off the Gloves

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The earthquake that shattered the quiet afternoon yesterday in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, has brought with it death and destruction. As people who have received God’s generous mercy, let us extend Jesus’ love to the needy in Haiti. Here are three ways to pray and give:

Give To Compassion International’s Haiti Disaster Relief

You can give now to Compassion International to provide emergency food and water to families and children affected by the earthquake. Simply text “disaster” to 90999 to give $10 to Compassion or give online here.

Give to Mission For Haiti

Friends from our sponsoring church lead Mission to Haiti, a Gospel ministry in Haiti. Pray that God will keep his people in Haiti safe and that the Spirit will minister Christ’s mercy through the believers of Mission To Haiti. Give now to support their effort.

Pray For the Fairfax Urban Search & Rescue Team

Seventy-two rescue personnel from Northern Virginia and 6 rescue canines are en route to Haiti. Keep in prayer the efforts of the Fairfax Urban Search & Rescue Team, one of the first U.S. teams on the ground after the earthquake. More from their web site here. Pray that God will grant them effectiveness and strength as they rescue people from the rubble.

UPDATE – 1.14.10 – Sarah Bennett, who helps run Mission For Haiti, was in the city of Jacmel, Haiti, and has not been heard from since the earthquake. She is a faithful sister in Christ from Heritage Bible Church that sponsors our church plant. We are continuing to pray for her safety and ministry to earthquake victims.

UPDATE – 1.14.10 – We’ve heard that Sarah Bennett is alive and well. Praise the Lord!

Sermon Title: He Has Not Forgotten. He Is Not Silent.
Sermon Text: Luke 1:67-80
Speaker: Garrett Lee

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Sermon Title: God’s Extravagant Generosity, Part 3
Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Speaker: Jonathan Matías

Click on an option below to download or listen to this sermon now. This sermon is a summary of the Bible’s teaching on giving & generosity.

You can also watch the Keynote presentation here as you listen to the sermon.
God’s Extravagant Generosity, Part 3

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Why I Picked Up This Book

Lately God has led me through a lot of change and into increasing responsibility as a husband, discipler, and urban church planter. I’ve been asking myself, “How can I grow in maturity and wise living so I can honor God and influence others to Christ?”

Tim Challies’ book The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment has led me to the answer. Challies has lit a fire in my heart to pour over Holy Scripture more, dependently seek God’s face in prayer, and think carefully about how to lead my family and our church. In his book, I’ve found an easy-to-understand guide to discerning what is best and what is unwise. This is a great read for every teen, college student, parent, and believer who feels pressure to make life-altering decisions and who wants to know how to live wisely in our sin-cursed and increasingly complex world.

What’s Inside?

Tim Challies methodically talks his readers through the need for discernment, its source, and the process of becoming a discerning believer. Chapters 1 and 2 issue a call for every believer to ground themselves deeper in God’s truth so we can navigate the times we are in. Challies alerts us that our culture, the Adversary, and even our own hearts are subtly working to push us off-track from honoring God. I was gripped by realizing how my desire to be right or viewed as competent has been an obstacle to receiving wise input in my life.

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On December 6, 2009, the congregation voted to affirm Garrett Lee as our church’s second elder, and Shayne McAllister and Peter Beninate as our first deacons. These three men have served on our Leadership Team since our church was founded two years ago and have demonstrated themselves to be compassionate, Spirit-led, and Word-centered men.

So during Sunday morning worship on December 13, 2009, Pastor Jonathan Matías laid hands on them and prayed over them, recognizing the Spirit’s calling of them to be officers of our church (Acts 6:6 and 1 Timothy 4:14).

Peter Beninate, deacon; Garrett Lee, elder; Jonathan Matías, elder; Shayne McAllister, deacon

Garrett Lee recognized as Grace Church’s second elder.

In accord with the Bible church form of church government, the elders of Grace Church are ministers of the Gospel charged with shepherding the flock, preaching and teaching the Word, praying for the body, and overseeing the ministry of the church (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:1-3; 1 Timothy 4:11-16). Our deacons are servants who tend to the physical and benevolent needs of the congregation, and doing so free the elders to focus on their ministry of the Word and prayer (Acts 6:1-6). We praise God that Christ has given Garrett, Shayne, and Peter as gifts to His church (Ephesians 4:7, 11)!

Thanks to a member of our church, Michael Collins, for the pictures.

Sermon Title: Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat
Sermon Text: Luke 1:46-56
Speaker: Jonathan Matías

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Our Sunday worship on December 27th will be held at 10:30 am at a members’ home, the Wiebe’s Home, in Alexandria. On that day we will not be meeting at our regular location, the Samuel Tucker Elementary School. This change affects only Sunday, December 27th. Please call the church office at 703.475.4390 or contact us via our web site for directions to the alternate worship location on that day.

We warmly welcome you to join us this Christmas season to worship Christ, our Redeemer & King! Our theme for December is “The Three Canticles of Christmas,” as we look at the three songs in the Gospel of Luke that celebrate the birth of Jesus!

Sermon Title: God’s Extravagant Generosity, Part 2
Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 8:16-9:15
Speaker: Jonathan Matías

Click on an option below to download or listen to this sermon now.

You can watch the Keynote presentation here as you listen to the sermon.
God’s Extravagant Generosity

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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.