SERVICE TIME CHANGE

"It is not possible to be faithful and popular simultaneously."
- John Stott

TUESDAYS ARE FOR PRAYER

MAN NIGHT MARCH 24th

We will be talking about men and their money. Come join us and bring a friend for casual conversations and manhood and Jesus.

Resurrection

No resurrection is no hope. Christianity is a futile, empty & foolish faith.
A partial resurrection is just about me, and what I can achieve on my own.
But a risen Jesus, dead and now alive, is good news for the world. News worthy of your investigation, for it changes everything. News worthy of our celebration if by Him we have been changed.

Salvable vs. Saved

(Jesus) did not die to make men salvable; he died to save them.
- Charles Spurgeon

Announcements March 2008

There will be no Women of Mystery this month (March). They will resume next month with an all new study. Make plans now. It's the third Monday night of each month 7pm at Panera Bread.

Men of Mystery will meet as Scheduled in March. Next gathering of the men is Monday March 24th at 7pm @ Pizza By Stout. Topic is Men and their Money.

If you would like to help with children's ministry please contact Ashley Inge. We are in need of teachers and childcare workers for this growing area. Help spread the load and volunteer to serve the kids and help the parents.

Easter Sunday is March 23rd. Who are you inviting? Are you praying for them? Are you praying for those who don't know the love and joy of Christ? Please do. Spend this month reflecting on your own salvation. What did Jesus do for you? What do we see as impossible for him to do in others? Where does he need to free us for mission? Where do you need to trust and risk for the gospel? We were not saved to simply to savior Jesus on our own but to share the truth of the gospel with the world. Easter is Mission.

Hard Teaching

As we enter our third week teaching on the Cross I have felt the weight of dealing with difficult concepts. It is hard to teach the whole council of God and not have to deal with hard stuff. The last two weeks the reality of our sin and God's wrath toward sin and sinners has been heavy in my mind and in my words. You simply cannot have the love of Christ in John without the Judgment of God from Ezekiel. It is the Justice and anger of God against sin that makes the beauty of Christ's suffering shine. Their is no forgiveness of sin without blood as Hebrews says. I know why so many people shy from the hard realities of the bible...they are hard and often hurt our hard hearts. You do not preach on sin, blood or wrath if you are trying too grow a church, but you must if you are trying to grow Christians. To avoid the depth of sin is to avoid the magnitude of grace. To settle for simply an indifferent "only loving" God without the penalty and anger of a just God dismisses the judgment he bore in himself to love us and misses the meaning of sacrificial efficacious love. We must see the harshness and horrors of our sin or settle for a "cheap grace".

I am to comforted to know others have struggled through teaching hard stuff. As George Whitefield the great English evangelist has said, "It is a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher."

I would rather have displeased people with the gospel, its foolishness and offense, than stand before God a coward.

Exports

"You can only export what you have, and if your spiritual life is a mess, then that is what you will take on the road." - Douglas Wilson

Suggested Reading for August

We live in the information age. More is available now at the push of a button than any previous time in history and yet we are more mentally impotent than ever as a people. Christians are not called to be intellectually neutered, on the contrary, God gave us brains to think and ponder the riches and wisdom of God and apply our knowledge of him to all of life.
We are called to love God not simply with all our heart and soul but with our mind as well. The call of the gospel is to be transformed in our thinking and reasoning through the renewing of our minds. This happens as we read our bibles, study theology and drink deeply from the wellspring of life, which is Jesus. I would challenge you to open scripture, study, read good books, examine the deeper side of knowing God and experience a strengthening of heart and mind.
Here is some suggested reading coinsiding with a series on The Cross we are currently preaching and teaching through:
The Cross of Christ by John Stott, Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll, Living The Cross Centered Life by CJ Mahaney, The Atonement It’s Meaning & Significance by Leon Morris, Knowing God by J.I. Packer

Feeling & Believing

To feel God’s love is very precious, but to believe it when you do not feel it, is the noblest. He may be but a little Christian who knows God’s love, but he is a great Christian who believes it when the visible contradicts it and the invisible withholds its witness.

Charles Spurgeon

LEADERS MEETING TONIGHT

Leaders meeting tonight from 7-8:30pm at the First Pres. Building.