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New Attitude '08 Links:

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SGC attendees

Travel Info

NA Conference & SGC Details

Sunday Line-up

Mighty Mighty Savior

Alas And Did My Savior Bleed

You Are My King

---COMMUNION---- 

You Have Captured Me

The Glories Of Calvary

Free Song & Important Reminder!!!

Excerpt from Bob Kauflin's Blog, Worship Matters:

Looked Upon (or Lu for short) is the first project of the Na Band, with Devon leading and Jordan playing drums. They’re joined by other members of my home church. The band’s purpose is to set “humble orthodoxy” to music. While they regularly lead worship at Covenant Life, each year they also lead at New Attitude, the Sovereign Grace annual conference for singles and young couples...After last year’s New Attitude conference over 6500 people downloaded a live version of the song, “What a Savior.”

This year, to give you a taste of the new project, we’re giving away the CD version of the same song. You can download it by clicking here.

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I’m a Hypocrite (But the Gospel is for Sinners Like Me)

That’s right, I’m a hypocrite. I really don’t like to admit it and I’m not proud of it. In fact, I’m ashamed about it at times, although not nearly as often as I should be. My awareness of my hypocrisy often fluctuates, based on my awareness of my sin and failures or at times based on the raw truth of potential consequences for my hypocrisy. At times, viewing my hypocrisy makes me feel worthless and in the extreme, I respond in hopelessness. Sometimes I feel as if there is no way out, as if there is no way of escaping my own hypocrisy.

But this is a lie. The way out is to confess my hypocrisy, to confess my many sins and all of my failures - to see that God intended for me to come to Him weak, broken, humbled and contrite. Jesus came to save sinners, of which I am chief among sinners. And to see that no-one, not even I myself can deliver me from this body of sin and death that hangs about me. You see, I need to stop trusting in myself and looking to myself to change on my own. I cannot bring about God’s forgiveness through some work, or even deep sorrow, of my own. And I cannot either merit or take away from the work of forgiveness that only Jesus can give to me.

On my own, there is no way out and on my own things would indeed be hopeless. But, I must forsake myself and consider my old sin nature truly dead with the death of Christ. I must trust only in the hope that is in Jesus – that He alone earned my forgiveness, that He alone earned my right to stand before the Holy God as clean and deserving and that He alone has saved me from my sin and the wrath of God.

The Gospel – the Good News that Jesus came to save sinners, is truly for sinners like me. And the good news is that Jesus can make sinners like me saints in His sight. Does this mean I stop sinning? No. Does this mean that I now live a perfectly sinless and holy life every day? No. Does this mean I am no longer aware of my failures and that I no longer fall? No. But this does mean that all of my sins, my failures, my fallings, all of my hypocrisy were placed on Jesus as He hung on the Cross and my entire body of sin was crucified with Jesus – and I consider it as gone as a dead man, who dies only once.

The good news is that all of my hypocrisy deserved punishment and Someone else took it and paid for my hypocrisy by bleeding and suffering for me - by His own death. The good news is that God now looks on me as if I had never sinned, even though He knows the reality, and now He has credited me with all of the right and holy living that Jesus lived. This is good news and this is why a hypocrite like me can stand forgiven and free from the weight of hypocrisy. And this is why a hypocrite like me no longer wants to live like a hypocrite.

Now, by God’s grace I can enter into His presence, where I know I will find mercy and grace to help me in my time of need. Now, I no longer stand before God as a hypocrite – I stand as His child, because I have been made a new creation and I possess in reality the righteousness that I could never earn. Now, I can live in hope and confidence that God loves me and that He will give me His favor to enable me to live a life that is pleasing to Him. Thank God the gospel is for sinners like me.

We're On The Move!

Don't forget to show up at the Embassy Suites this Sunday!

We'll be meeting at a different location each Sunday in April. Mark your calendars...

April 6th - Embassy Suites

April 13th - Greenville Marriott

April 20th - Greenville Hilton

April 27th - Greenville Marriott

Application Questions & Sunday Line-up

Scripture Reference: Matthew 28:1-8

Application Questions:

1. How are you encouraged to know that real reality is not this life, but Christ himself?
2. What areas, things or attitudes do you need to let go of since the problem of evil is only temporary? Have you placed more importance on trials, problems and/or people than Christ? What do you need to do to change?
3. How would you answer this question: Are you tempted more to despair, fear, worry, anger, apathy and the like more than joy? How can a resurrection-awareness (preach the gospel to yourself everyday) help you to go from sinful thinking to joy-filled thinking? How can your care group help you as you change? Be specific…

Sunday Line-up:

Because Of You
How High And How Wide
Blessed Be Your Name
How Deep The Father’s Love
Light Of The World
Be Thou My Vision
His Forever

Application Questions & Sunday Line-up

Care Group will not be at the Rawling's this week! Call the Rawling's (469.7023) or the church office (346.2361) for more info.

Scripture Reference: Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12

Main Idea: The exalted Lamb of God, bore our sins and suffered in our place, so that we might be made righteous before God.

Application Questions:

1. How does seeing God’s plan through the covenant history of the Old Testament magnify the gospel?

2. How does knowing that Jesus was the following things affect how you view the gospel and how you relate to Him?

He was…Marred; despised; rejected; pierced; wounded; a man of sorrows; acquainted with grief; as one from whom men hide their faces; despised; scorned; oppressed; afflicted; silent when wrongly accused; taken away in injustice; cut off out of the land of the living; stricken for our transgressions; crushed; numbered with the transgressors

3. How should knowing that all of our sins were imputed to Jesus on the Cross affect how we view our own, daily sins? What should our response look like?

4. How does knowing that we come before God, permanently wearing the righteousness that Jesus earned affect how we live?

Sunday Line-up

He Is Risen
Christ The Lord Is Risen Today
Crown Him With Many Crowns
In Christ Alone
You Led Me To The Cross
Mighty Mighty Savior

Sale Continues

Through March: ridiculously low prices on books and music, plus free U.S. shipping!

Why? Because Sovereign Grace wants to put these resources into as many hands as possible.

- Free library rate shipping (within the U.S.)
- Sovereign Grace CDs* & download sets: $6
- Accompaniment CDs*: $6
- Pursuit of Godliness books*: $5
- Songbook Set*: $40
- Individual Piano Scores: $1; Piano-score sets: $6
*While supplies last

Application Questions & Sunday Line-up

Scripture Reference: 1 Peter 2:4-8

Main Idea: Who are you?

Application Questions:

1. Do you primarily think of yourself as an individual stone or a part of a temple?

2. How does "individual stone" thinking affect your life? Your calendar? How you show up at a church meeting?

3. How does "part of a temple" affect your life? Your calendar? How you show up at a church meeting?

4. Why review your union with Christ? How does that affect your view of suffering? Of blessing? Of your resurrection?

Sunday Line-up

Your Praise Will Never Cease
For Your Glory Alone
Oh What Grace
In Christ Alone
The Wonderful Cross
You Are My King

Weights for Working Out

While there are many great books one could read, I think there are a few must-read books that we should all read and then re-read, because we get fit most often through consistent repetition.

In the challenge of staying spiritually “fit”, I’d like to recommend you put the following books on your “must-have” list:

The Cross-Centered Life, by C.J. Mahaney

Stop Dating the Church, by Josh Harris

Disciplines for Life,by John Loftness & C.J. Mahaney

The Discipline of Grace, by Jerry Bridges

How Can I Change?, by C.J. Mahaney & Robin Boisvert

Why Small Groups?, various pastors, edited by C.J. Mahaney

Knowing God, by J.I. Packer

The Holiness of God, by R. C. Sproul

Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, by Paul David Tripp

When I Don’t Desire God, by John Piper

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…

Application Questions & Sunday Line-up

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

Why Should I Go to New Attitude?

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

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

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.

Application 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?

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

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

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.

Application Questions & Sunday Line-up

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!

Are you going to NA '08?

Are 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