The Victory of God’s Anointed King

I will be preaching from Psalm 2, which declares the victory of God’s anointed King over those who rebel against Him.
Though the world is in turmoil because of its rebellion against God, He Who sits in heaven is not disturbed. He has established His Anointed One to rule over the earth.
Those who rebel will be crushed which is why all people should submit to God’s Anointed Son while there is time.

As you read the Psalm think of how it speaks of David, how it speaks of Jesus, and how it speaks of our situation.

Radical Grace for Rebellious People

No one likes to hear bad news, but often through it good can come. The same is true for the people of Judah. Their condition was far worse than they imagined, yet the Lord was willing to show them incredible grace. As we look at this passage tomorrow, we will be made aware of the sins that lie deep within our hearts, and be encouraged by God’s gracious work to remedy the situation through faith in Christ.

Please read Isaiah 1 before you come to service tomorrow.

The Sufficiency of the Scripture

Godlessness in the Last Days

Tomorrow morning, deo volente, I am planning to continue the series we began last fall in the book of 2 Timothy. The text will be Chapter 3:1-9. I have entitled the message Godlessness in the Last Days: Subtitling it: The Sins that Flow from the Love of Self. Here Paul gives Timothy the big “heads up” with concern to the behavior that characterizes the false teachers in the midst of the last days. I counted no less than 21 destructive behaviors, vices, and sins that mark out the conduct and mental attitude of those who are opposed to God’s Truth. While a bit of a sobering text, it is important that these things be discussed as we consider the reality of evil in these days between our Savior’s 1st and 2nd Advents. I would encourage you all to read the first couple of chapters of 2 Timothy in preparation for our time together in the Word tomorrow.

The Mission of Grace Bible Church

Many of us use the beginning of a new year as an opportunity to evaluate our lives and to make new resolutions.
At the beginning of 2011 the elders introduced a new mission statement for Grace Bible Church, which reflects our understanding of the Scriptural priorities for the local church.

Our mission is to build a community of gospel-centered people as we:
A. Worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:24; Acts 2:42).
B. Serve one another by exercising our spiritual gifts (I Cor. 12:4-6; Eph. 4:11-16).
C. Proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world (Mt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).
D. Live out a biblical worldview in all spheres of life (Jer. 29:7; Mt. 5:13-16).

We thought it appropriate at the beginning of this new year that we evaluate the life of the church in light of our mission statement, which is what I plan to do in the Sunday morning sermon.
We also plan to use this opportunity to express how we, along with our deacons, plan in the coming year to invest our time, energy and the Lord’s money to advance our mission.

Thirsting for God

Psalms 42-43 go together. They are Psalms of lament with an almost identical refrain. 42:5 42:11 43:5.
These Psalms are of special value to believers who feel overwhelmed or struggle with depression.
We can relate to the Psalmist as he describes his own spiritual drought, longing for God to satisfy his thirst.
He also describes his situation as being overwhelmed by the floods of sorrow.
Yet within this Psalm we find the answer to our despair. “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones used Psalm 42 in the first chapter of his famous book, “Spiritual Depression”.
He tells us that a key to overcoming depression is to stop listening to ourselves (complaining and worrying) and to start talking to ourselves (about the hope we have in God).

Please read Psalms 42-43 before coming to church.

God Speaks Through His Word

This Sunday I plan to complete our consideration of Psalm 19.
Last week we looked at the first six verses which declares how God speaks to all humanity through His creation (General Revelation)
This week we will consider the Lord’s speech to His people through the Scriptures (Special Revelation) in verses 7-11, and then our response in verses 12-15.

As you read over Psalm 19 before coming to church consider the following questions:

Do you notice that the first six verses use the name God and verse seven and following use LORD. Why do you think that this is?
How are general revelation similar to each other? How are they different?
Where can you see the gospel in this Psalm?