I LOVE our time of congregational worship at Grace Bible. I sit on the front row so I can sing LOUD and not hurt anyone’s ears 🙂 AND, I can hear the beautiful voices of our church family, singing together behind me. It’s GLORIOUS. Our worship leader, Byron Baird, does a great job of leading us in songs that are gospel-centered and congregational. Byron, as well as the rest of our praise team are talented people, but they’re not the focus, Christ is. The result, is a reflection of what we see in Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Congregational worship is a way of expressing the worth of Christ together. That’s why each Sunday, we come together, and sing like we can’t live without Him! As you know, at Grace Bible, God has assembled a group of flawed people, who are desperate for Jesus. We are keenly aware of our NEED Jesus Christ. No man made religion will do. We’re over, and passed going through the motions and jumping through hoops to give the appearance of being “good church people”. We’re learning more and more that all of our efforts are just that, our efforts. We’ve seen the mess we make of life when we mistakenly think we’re in charge. So we’re not interested in what we can do, but we are increasingly consumed with seeing what Christ can do. I know these things about our church, not just because I am the pastor, but because I am a part of our church. I’m desperate too. Redeemed and being redeemed. Saved by grace alone. Walking in His mercy. Learning His truth.

I wanted to give you all a chance to familiarize yourself with a song that is a HUGE dose of encouragement for a people who are desperate for Jesus Christ. Listen to the lyrics of the song as it reminds us of all that’s afforded to us in Christ Jesus…and check out the last few words “Come just as you are, to His table.” That’s us Grace Bible, “come as you are!”  Grace Bible, I look forward to us singing this song together, soon!

Battling sin is part of being a Christian. Romans 8:13 says: if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you dput to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

This hilarious video reminded me of a WRONG WAY to battle sin. Contrary to popular belief we can’t simply, STOP IT! Check it out…

Pretty funny stuff, hu!?!? Talk about bad counseling!! And btw, if you do counsel people like that, “STOP IT”. The vid is funny because it’s so unreal! But battling sin is no laughing matter. John Owen rightly said, “be killing sin or it will be killing you.” But the importance of HOW we battle sin can not be overstated. Here’s a great post with FOUR RESOURCES FOR OVERCOMING SIN the RIGHT way, from GOTQUESTIONS.ORG

BTW- Aren’t you glad Jesus doesn’t deal with us, the way Bob Newhart dealt with this lady when we struggle??? We can approach Jesus with CONFIDENCE. Here’s why:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16

A week ago today I had the privilege of visiting an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. My purpose for going was to learn. I have been told on several occasions that the church could learn some things from AA, especially in small group settings.  I attended the meetings with my uncle Chris who has been clean and sober for 20 years now. Chris was the “old friend” I referred to in this post. When I was a kid, I thought Chris was the coolest guy in the world, because he could play just about every Tom Petty song ever written on his guitar. Hey, I’m old now, and I still think that’s pretty cool! 🙂

Here we go, 4 things we, the local church, can learn from AA meetings. I’m sure there are a lot more than this. But these came to mind.

1. A culture of humility and gratitude in a group setting. You may know that in AA, attendees begin sharing by saying “My name’s ________ and I’m an alcoholic” and then everyone says “Hi ________.” Quite a humbling statement,right? But did you know that when a person is finished sharing they say “thanks for letting me share” and then the group responds “thanks for sharing”??? When someone finishes reading aloud they say “thanks for letting me read” and the group responds “thanks for reading.” What if our church small groups included an opening (true) statement “I’m Roy and I’m a sinner saved by grace alone”? And when we share a thought or experience in small group Bible study, wouldn’t it be encouraging to hear someone say “thanks for sharing” rather than having to wonder if we are being criticized in the minds of your group? Humility and gratitude are powerful things. The opposite of these would pride and entitlement. Ugly words.
2. Authenticity. People in AA meetings are REAL. It’s sad that such bold transparency caught me off guard! But I very quickly appreciated it. Oddly enough, even as an outsider, I felt pretty relaxed in the meetings I attended! It’s not only that people are REAL, it’s that it’s OK to be REAL. Like a breath of fresh air.
3. Unity amid diversity. Addiction knows no boundaries. It affects people from all different backgrounds, races, and walks of life. People seeking to walk in recovery need other people to walk the journey with them. They don’t care what color they are, or their annual income. Their common bond is their need. I pray that our churches would see our common need as our point of unity. We are all sinners in need of Christ. Part of the beauty of the church ought to be different people coming together with a common goal, fleeing sin, and pursuing Christ.
4. Commitment, not only to personal sobriety, but the sobriety of others. People in recovery don’t just go to meetings for themselves, they go to support others. They know how much the shared experiences of others have helped them, and they don’t want to withhold their knowledge, encouragement, and experience from others. Church has become a bit consumer driven. Many times we have a, “what’s in it for me?” attitude. We would do well to see the value in going to a small group or church worship service, simply to encourage others in their walk. After all, even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve. (Mark 10:45)

I hope I get to the opportunity to attend more AA meetings. I still have a lot to learn.

We had a great time of worship and a great start to our series in the gospel of John yesterday! If you missed the sermon, you can listen to the audio here. I truly believe God is going to bring LIFE to this series as we are faithful to His Word. As I said yesterday, our church seems to find a stride when we are working through a particular book of the Bible week after week. Below are some followup questions from yesterday’s message.

Questions for John 1:1-5

• Who is the Word that John refers to in 1:1-2? (hint Jn 1:14)
• Why did John refer to him as the Word? Why not just say “Jesus is God”?
• I once saw a t-shirt that read “Jesus is my homeboy.” How does a statement like that look when compared to the description of Jesus in John 1:1-5?
• How has a close look at John 1:1-5 make you think differently about Jesus?

For further reading, spend some time in Colossians 1:15-20.

“I have a great need for Christ: I have a great Christ for my need.” ― Charles Spurgeon

Getting ready for a new sermon series from The Gospel of John, ‘That You May Believe’
…that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31

Sunday, Feb 8, at Grace Bible, we discussed the blessing, benefit and responsibility of prayer. Our Bible passage was Matthew 6:5-13, where Jesus teaches how to pray. If you can, take some time to read over Matthew 6:5-13 and answer the following questions during your personal time with the Lord. Also, enjoy the quotes that follow, as well as the link to the song,’Whom Shall I Fear’ , by Chris Tomlin. For me, the lyrics of this song serve as a great reminder of what we are reminded of in prayer. God is in control. He is powerful. He is good. Regardless of how dark things may look, He has a great plan and sees the big picture. Prayer doesn’t always change our circumstances, but it can always changes our perspective.

• As you read through Matthew 6:9-13, how would you summarize the different parts of this prayer in your own words?
• How might your day look different if you spent a heartfelt time praying a prayer like this each day?
• What’s preventing you from experiencing the blessing of an active prayer life?
• Our prayer times, especially in Bible study settings, seems to be limited to prayers for “daily bread”. Why do you think this is so?
• What would you say is a biblical definition of prayer?
• For further study on the subject of prayer, spend some time reading, meditating on, and praying through Philippians 4:4-7

Quotes:

“…True prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length.” –Charles Spurgeon

“If you want that splendid power in prayer, you must remain in loving, living, lasting, conscious, practical, abiding union with the Lord Jesus Christ.” -Charles Spurgeon

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ” -John Bunyan

Hey Grace Bible Fam! I’m looking forward to another day of worship and The Word with you tomorrow. We’ll be wrapping up our Healthy Church series in the subject of prayer. A healthy church understands the blessing, power, and responsibility we share in prayer. Our sermon passage will be from Matthew 6:5-13. I encourage you read over this passage if you have the opportunity between now and tomorrow. I’ll have a couple of special guests, people I know to be prayer warriors, at the beginning of the sermon. They’ll be answering the simple question “Why do you pray?” You’ll be blessed by them for sure.
As I said, I’m looking forward to it, and I hope you are too. Hope to see you all tomorrow at 10:45am. Come as you are! -Roy

“If every problem you see looks like a nail, and your only tool for it is a hammer, it may be that you just like beating on ppl!” — A wise and godly pastor named John Brown said this to a group of us during a ministry training program. So true, isn’t it!?
Lord, free us from the tendency to “bring the hammer” when ppl really need patience, grace, prayer, and love…Like you give us!

I got a text message from an old friend yesterday that simply read “20 year 2day!” He went on to tell me that he was celebrating 20 years of being “clean and sober.” Then he said “The Lord and I may not have beaten alcoholism but we dang sure have it on the ropes and bleedin'” Haha! I love it! I love sobriety and hate alcoholism, and all addiction for that matter. Notice I said I hate alcoholism, not alcohol. I don’t drink, but you don’t have to hide your Corona if we run into each other at a Mexican food restaurant, that’s just weird for both of us. Alcohol is not the problem, abuse of it is. And for some guys, like me, we tend to abuse it. Alcoholism, along with a score of other substances and sinful habits, can cost you your family, your friends, your health, your home, your job, your freedom, it can even kill you. But worse than all of that, addiction affects our relationship with God. Ephesians 5:18 says “do not get drunk with wine…but be filled with the Spirit…” It’s not that God JUST wants sobriety for us, although that is true, it’s that He wants us to experience HIM, His Spirit.  
Addiction is no easy thing to deal with. Don’t be quick to look down on someone who is caught in the lie that addiction tells. We all believe the Devil’s lies, sober people are sinful people too. So people caught in addiction need our love, our prayers, and our friendship. They need the truth,and they need reality. But they don’t need our condemnation or ridicule.
We can learn a lot from people who struggle with addiction. One of the things I find especially refreshing about people who are walking in recovery, they KNOW they can’t live a day without God. That’s true for all of us, but they KNOW IT. 
20 Years sobriety is a big deal! Praise God! And in honor of my friends sobriety, one of my favorite songs that means more to ME than you know. Sing it Kenny:)

In Sunday’s sermon we discussed the role and blessing of elders in the local Church. We talked briefly discussed how New Testament elders are Biblical. There are qualifications for elders outlined 1Timothy 3 and in Titus 2. Also we see elders were evident in Ephesus (Acts 20:17), the Churches that the Apostle Paul Founded (Acts 14:23), the Jerusalem Church (Acts 15:2), the Churches of Crete (Titus 1:5), the Churches of the of the Roman Empire (James 1:1; 5:14), and also in the Churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (1 Peter 1:1; 5:1). But for a look at WHAT an elder does and HOW he does it, in order to get a sense of the blessing and benefit God has given us in the role of elder, we looked at 1Peter 5:1-3.

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 

At the end our time in church I said a few things about each of the men who currently serve as elders of our church. They’re pictured above from left to right: Brent Wilkins, Theron Whitley, (myself), and Jeff Crelia. I love these men. They are a divine blessing to me and to our Grace Bible, Church Family. As the pastoral elder of our Church, I don’t make decisions that effect our whole Church without them. There’s great benefit confidence and security in that. These men, love our Church, and they love Jesus. They are the kind of leaders God wants us to have, and I’m thankful to God for them. I hope all of our Church is thankful for them, as well.

If you’d like to hear the sermon you can find it by clicking here.