Thursday, February 28, 2008

Working Out?

I recently was convicted that I had not been a good steward of the “temple” that God has given me. I had been eating in an unhealthy manner and not exercising – thus neglecting to care for the physical gift of my body that God has given me to carry out His purposes. Such neglect can be sinful (or reveal sin in my heart) and practically, will have an effect on my physical ability to obey the Lord in carrying out the roles He has called me to.

So, in response to new-found conviction, I changed the way I eat and bought a used piece of exercise equipment. It looks good in the garage too. But now, I must begin the process of making intentional changes to my schedule and start using the equipment if I want to benefit from it. As it turns out, conviction is a good thing but apparently, I have to put what I have to work if I want to see actual results.

Often we can be poor stewards of the minds that the Lord has given us too. This neglect not only reveals potential areas of sin, but it will also have a definite effect on our ability to live the Christian life and carry out our Biblical roles...

Aside from daily intake of the Bible, prayer, worship and sound teaching, I cannot recommend more highly the discipline of reading great books. In doing so though, I must first ask if you are reading and meditating on God’s Word daily, with the specific goal of hearing from God and applying His Word to your life. If you are not working out in this area, I’d encourage you to stop reading this post and go read your Bible instead – you’ll get way more out of it.

If, however, you have begun to develop your practice of daily Bible intake and application, I would encourage you to purchase some additional exercise equipment for your mind and soul. Get good books. You don’t have to look for the “uber-bender-lifter-3000” though; I’d encourage you to start with the basics. Start with one good book and when you’ve read it and sought to apply it to your life, move on to another and then go and re-read them.

In doing so, it is important that you begin with books that help expound the timeless truths that the Bible contains and stay with books that stay close to the Bible. And then, it is critical that you don’t just get books – read them. After all, they may look good on your shelf but they won’t do any good if you don’t put them to work practically.

In my next post, I’ll make some specific recommendations for your reading…

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Application Questions & Sunday Line-up

app. questions

Sermon Text: 1 Peter 1:22-25

Main Idea: Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

Application Questions:

1. Are you helping the gospel with your power or are you harnessing the power of gospel? Lets talk about testimonies where God has been at work through the gospel.

2. What does gospel love “feel” like?

Sunday Line-up:

Holy Holy Holy
In The Presence
For You Are Holy
I Look Up
Grace Unmeasured
Isn’t He Good

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Why Should I Go to New Attitude?

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What's the big deal? Why should I go to New Attitude?

I can definitely understand some hesitancy, since a lot of folks haven’t ever attended a New Attitude conference and don’t know what it is all about. Below are some of our thoughts behind why we, (as your Pastors), are asking you to seriously consider attending New Attitude this year. I hope they will serve to answer the questions you may have.

  • The Gospel. The New Attitude 2008 conference plays a strategic role in our shared mission to advance the gospel. We want to instill in the hearts of those who will take our place a love for the cross of Christ, sound doctrine, and the local church.
  • It Equips.The reason New Attitude is strategic is simple: our family of churches benefits from having a context that gathers, equips, and inspires our singles, college students and young married couples in the gospel-centered values that define us.
  • The Shared Mission. New Attitude is important in cementing a clear identity for the next generation of our family of churches. New Attitude is a place where young people are reminded of the shared mission of Sovereign Grace as well as an opportunity for the values they’re learning in their local church to be reinforced.
  • To Serve. It’s also an opportunity for our movement to influence and serve the broader body of Christ. We want to gather this generation to spread the values that define Sovereign Grace. This not only happens through the gospel-centered messages, it happens in large part through the influence of the people that attend. So New Attitude is not only a place to be served – it’s also a chance for you to serve and affect others in our generation.
  • The Word of God. Lastly – this year’s theme, The Word of God, is not just Single or even “young” theme – it is a theme that all people can benefit from. We want to help people trust Scripture, obey Scripture and understand how to read and apply Scripture to their lives in a more effective manner.

New Attitude will be a great opportunity to grow in our knowledge of God through His Word, our passion for God because of His Word and our practical application in response to His Word. In the meanwhile, if you still have any questions about why you should attend New Attitude, I’ll be glad to talk to you about them – just let me know.

Your bro,

-Matt

Friday, February 22, 2008

Sunday Line-Up

Come Now Almighty King

Oh What Grace

Alas And Did My Savior Bleed

-Communion-

Once Again

Nothing But The Blood

His Forever

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Adopted To Obey Our Father

I have a close friend who we watched walk through the process of adoption. The process took a while and after a couple of years, they adopted a young boy almost two years old. He was immediately both a joy… and a handful to them.

He was a handful because he was used to behaving according to his former ways that his foster parents had raised him in. His new parents loved him very much but, in many different ways, his behavior needed to change. He had formerly been conditioned to a way of life and his little brain just didn’t think in the ways that his new parents wanted him to act. But now that he was their son, part of their family and living in their household, he was expected to obey his new parents.

His parents worked with him patiently but he was expected to be different now because he was their child. Prior to being adopted, his behavior wasn’t important to his foster parents – but his behavior was very important to his new parents because it said something about them and about their family and about what they believed in regards to the behavior of a Christian child.

Now that we have been adopted, as children of God, it is natural to expect that our behavior would need to change. We’ve been made a new creation and born again into the family of God. We should no longer think like we used to and we should no longer view our behavior and sin the same way.

God instructs us through the Apostle Peter to not be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance – the desires that belong to our sin nature. We have a new Father and we need to find out what is pleasing to Him. If we are His children, our lives should be characterized by obedience to our Father. We must ask ourselves - What does a child of God look like? The simplest answer is that a child of God looks like their Father.

In Romans 8:29, the Apostle Paul tells us that the purpose for which God saved us was so that we might be conformed into the image of Christ. With this in mind, the command God gives us to “be holy as I am holy” is seen as a loving command of our Father, who cares for us very deeply and therefore wants what is truly best for us – our obedience to Him.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Application Questions

app. questions

Sermon Text: 1 Peter 1:13-21

Main Idea: Knowing who we are is meant to affect how we live.

Application Questions:

1. Why is it important that you set your hope fully on God's grace in preparation for obeying Him?

2. What are some ways that you need to soberly prepare your minds for action?

3. What are some of the passions of your former ignorance that you need to put off?

4. How can you practically fear the Lord in your life - what does this look like?

5. How are you affected by remembering your ransom?

Friday, February 15, 2008

Hilton This Sunday

Just a reminder, we are at the Greenville Hilton this Sunday. We will be meeting in the Piedmont Ballroom (our normal rooms).

Map & Directions

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Going...Going...GONE...

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Save $$$!

Friday (a.k.a. February 15th, tomorrow, Viernes, Freitag, Vendredi...) is the last day for NA's early registration!

Prices increase on Saturday, February 16th.

Don't put it off, register TODAY!
Register Online

Need more info? Contact Jessica at, 864.346.2361.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Application Questions & Sunday Line-up

app. questions

Scripture Verse: 1 Peter 1:10 -12

Application Questions:

1. How does salvation secured in the past affect present suffering?

2. How does salvation secured in the future affect present suffering?

3. How does the blessings of salvation in the present affect present suffering?

Sunday Line-up

I’m Calling Out
Blessed Be Your Name
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
It Is Well With My Soul
Be Thou My Vision
You Have Captured Me

Don't forget we are meeting at the Greenville Hilton this Sunday!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Are you going to NA '08?

na circleAre you going to New Attitude? Please let Jessica know by February 28th. We need to confirm the rooms we have booked at the Galt House.

Have questions. Need more info. Call the church office at, 864.346.2361.

New Attitude Registration

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Into the Waves with Dad

Since the sermon last week, I've heard from several folks who found an illustration that I used during the message particularly helpful. I've posted an edited version here for your review...

If I were to visit the beach with my family and take my two year old daughter Sarah into the waves, they would quickly start to affect her ability to walk. Even standing still in waves just up to her waist would soon become difficult and her feet would begin to sink into the sand because of the under-tow. As the waves plowed into her, she would struggle to keep standing. Then I would strategically take her into the waves, and while I did so, I would encourage her, saying “Sarah, you must stay close to Daddy and you must hold on, or you could get hurt”.

Perhaps, to encourage her to be brave and to learn what it feels like to be in bigger waves; to help develop confidence as well as a respect and healthy fear of the waves all at the same time, I might take her in a little deeper. As her loving Father I would never take her in deeper than was safe for her, even though she may feel like it. I may take her to the brink of fear but I would never torture her – I would be compassionate on her. My goal would be for her good and I would not allow her to bear more than would be necessary for her good.

As we transition into deeper waters, she might grab my hand more firmly and start to consciously rely on me as she becomes more aware of my need for her. With a mixture of fear and excitement, knowing she was holding me, she would charge into the wave with me. And as her dad, I would enjoy her dependence and reliance on me but I would be holding her even more firmly than her grasp on me.

When the waves begin, Sarah may enjoy the first one but soon the novelty wears off and the frothing of the waves along with the sudden rush of water in her face may deter her boldness. After a little taste of sea-water in her mouth, she might even start to pull back out of the waves. Fear might begin to creep in, where confidence once led her with me into the swirl of water and sand.

No matter what she thought though, as her Daddy, I would never let go. Even if her little two-year old grasp failed, I would still be holding onto her and never let her drown. A wave or two may frighten her or she may feel as if she will go under, but I would use all of my power so that she was in no way harmed and instead only helped, strengthened and encouraged by the situation – though maybe shaken.

Although she would not really be aware of what was transpiring, I would lift her up when the big waves came but lower her again to let her feel the little ones, until she grew more stable on her feet, learning to adapt to the shifting sand and the pull of the current.

Most likely, she would eventually find new-found joy in the waves, holding onto me but starting to enjoy the experience more as she began to trust in me. Her anxious glances up at me as if to ask, “are you sure this is ok?” would soon turn to happy looks of confidence in me as she began to rest in my arms while springing up and down in the waves. In the end, when we returned back to the beach to rest, she would be simply gleeful - telling her siblings about the great experience she had with dad and how she leapt over the waves.

Yes, it is true that in our Christian walk we must have faith in God and yes, He uses our faith to guard us, but in reality, it is He who holds us more tightly than we do and He will guard us and sustain the very faith the He requires.

Will we go through suffering? Most likely, yes, but as Peter wrote, only if God deems it. We should not be worried that we will suffer – God will guard our faith and He will keep us. We can take confidence knowing that our suffering will never be arbitrary – God is not out to get you. He does not want you to drown. His goal is to cause you to grow in your faith, to grow in becoming more like His son who went before us – the firstborn of the new creation and our joint-heir.

God, the loving Father who knows best will only allow us to suffer if necessary and only then for a little while – while we are on this earth.

Suffering was not a part of His original creation but He sometimes purposes to use suffering, if it is necessary, to actually help us, strengthen us, encourage us and increase our awareness of His grasp and our total dependence on Him.

Will we at times feel as if the waves are too much for us? Perhaps. But He is a loving Father – more loving than I could ever be towards my two-year old daughter and more loving than any earthly Father and He has said he won’t allow more temptation than we can bear – in Him.

He is also a more powerful Father. More powerful than me and than anything or any force in all of existence, both physical and spiritual and His grasp will not fail when the waves hit us in the face. We hope in God who guards us and who guards our faith, even when we’re not sure we will have enough faith to face the waves of suffering, even if they loom large in our eyes.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Application Questions & Sunday Line-up


app. questions Scripture Verse: 1 Peter 1:3-9

Main Idea: We rejoice, because God has given us faith and hope and guards our faith and hope to the end.

1. What do you find yourself hoping in most often - other than Jesus? If you’re not sure - what you are hoping in could be revealed by what you are most disappointed or angry about in response to not getting it?

2. How have any of these hopes become idolatrous?
Remember, an idol is not defined by what you want but that you want it too much. An idol can be anything you are willing to sin to get or any desire you sin to fulfill.

3. How was your understanding of your faith in God changed (or encouraged, etc.) as you heard about how God guards our faith?

4. Have you viewed God as a loving Father who only lets us suffer “if necessary” or have you had a different view of God? Why?

5. How can you practically change and begin to place more hope in God and the fact that He has given us faith and hope and guards our faith and hope?

6. How can you practically pursue keep your hope alive in Christ? (God keeps it but calls us to an active relationship with Him – what should this look like?)

Sunday Line-Up

Intro
I Come Running
My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less
In Christ Alone
Be Thou My Vision
Lord Jesus Come
Because Of You