We are in the middle of working through a very helpful video training training class called Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes… in You and Your Kids on Wednesday nights. The course centers around the idea of what it means for us to honor one another and how we can train our children to live out Ephesians 6:1-3 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’”

As good as the course is, I feel

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The ESV Study Bible ships this week. As study Bibles go, this appears to be a good one. If you are planning to order one, you can get it Amazon for $31.49 (as of this posting). If you order it from this link (or the search box on the Library page), Grace Fellowship will get close to $2 as a referral fee.

I haven’t seen a copy, but with features like in-line color maps and figures (see Solomon’s Temple example), extensive background notes and introduction (see Psalms example), it looks like it will set a new standard for study Bibles.  Of course, at 2752 pages, you may need to check with your doctor before making

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During the summer’s ChurchWorks series, Dan mentioned the process we have for recognizing, developing, and appointing gifted leaders within the church. If this has you thinking thoughts like “Is God moving me toward a shepherding role within the church?” or “How would I know if I have the skill and desire to be a pastor?” or “How can I personally develop as a shepherd and pastor to those God has put in my path?” then I commend an excellent resource to you titled They Smell Like Sheep: Spiritual Leadership for the 21st Century by Lynn Anderson.

Ken gave me this book when I

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If you missed getting your free audio copy of C.H. Spurgeon’s All of Grace when it was offered a couple of years ago on ChristianAudio.com, you’ve got a second chance.  I cannot recommend this little book highly enough. This is a great illustration of a preacher who is passionate about reaching people with the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith in Christ alone.

Simply go to the Free Downloads page and follow the directions for the free download.

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I’ve recently taken on an unfamiliar role for me: assistant coach of a 5 to 7 year-old flag football team. Fortunately for me and the kids, I am the third coach, and the first two actually know what they are doing. You can see how I have captured the boys’ attention with my commanding field presence and mastery of the game.

This, along with Austin’s growing interest in sports, has me thinking more about the role of sports in the Christian life. So, it was nice timing when I came across an excellent sermon by C.J. Mahaney entitled Don’t

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This morning we introduced Connections, the next step in the development of our Sunday morning Bible study for adults.

Background
The large-groups assembly is a vital time to come together as a church to hear the Word of God together and respond in celebration through song, the Lord’s Supper, and prayer. However, the large-group gathering does not allow us to interact with Gods truth in the way smaller groups do. To facilitate that better, last year, we began offering more classes during the Bible study time.

There is another thing that the large-group assembly doesn’t allow for very well… that is the ability to get to know one-another …

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I was going to forward this talk on to the Adult Ministry Team (AMT), but I think this would be a good listen for anyone interested in why we teach within the church. It features Pastor Rob Paris, of Wellspring Anglican Church, preaching a message on a Christian view of education in the church. I found it helpful and encouraging.

He closes with what seems to be Wellspring’s vision for education….

We envision multitudes of children and adults delighting themselves in God’s Word and God’s world because they have discovered the life-giving power of His truth and grace. We long to be a learning culture where people study hard to excel in all that they do for the glory of God,

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I’m not usually fond of blogs that quote a blog quoting a book, but Justin Taylor has been reading Paul Tripp’s Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy and posted an excerpt that I find extremely insightful and personally convicting…

Sin lives in a costume, that’s why it’s so hard to recognize. The fact that sin looks so good is one of the things that make it so bad. In order for it to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil. Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party.

Impatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth.
Lust can masquerade as a love for beauty.
Gossip

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This week’s GraceTalk featured the following question…

Why are matters such as leasing\buying a building put to vote by the whole church? Specifically what issues are to be decided by the church members? Why is it biblical?

All of these questions fall under the broad topic of Church Government (or, if you like the technical terms ecclesiastical polity). This is a tough topic because the Bible gives virtually no direct instructions for how local churches should organize themselves. So, we have to look at examples and apply wisdom in how we think we can most faithfully represent what Christ had in in mind for His church. Because of this, we need to recognize

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This week’s graceTALK featured the following question…

Here is one I hear all the time…”If God told you to sacrifice your son, would you?”

How would you respond?

I am going to assume that the question here is in reference to Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22 where Abraham is called by God to sacrifice his son.

In order to put Genesis 22 into proper perspective, we need to look at Abraham’s complete relationship with God leading up to that incident.

Genesis 12, God tells Abram to move and promises offspring and land.

Genesis 13, God repeats the promise.

Genesis 15, Abram is told to gather and split animals, which he does. He then sees a vision of fire going between …

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