Grace Blog
Preparing for Grace Gathered: November 1, 2009
Several things are taking place this Sunday that I want to make you aware of (or remind you). With each coming Sunday, I hope to give you specific ways you can pray and prepare for Grace Gathered. Coming together on each Lord’s Day can become even more meaningful when we prepare our hearts, minds, and (yes) our bodies as God’s people.
Fall Back and Schedule Change
Please do not forget to change your clocks back one hour this Saturday evening. If not, you will arrive one hour early! Also, this Sunday is the launch of our second morning service and the schedule change. Please note the new times of our worship services and Bible Studies:
8:00AM Early Worship
9:30AM Sunday School
10:45AM Late Worship
11:00AM Spanish Sunday School
12:15PM Spanish Worship Service
Those of you who are serving on the various ministry teams, please be sure to arrive early. While we are anticipating a few bumps in the road as we transition, we hope to have everything smoothed out over the next couple of weeks.
Spanish Worship Service
This Sunday, our brother Marcos Perez will be delivering God’s Word in our Spanish worship service, and Pastors Ken and Tim will assist in leading in worship. I want to encourage many of you who attend our English worship services to join us as we continue in our commitment to share the Gospel and the life-changing power of God’s Word to our Spanish-speaking community!
Bible Study and Message Themes
For our adult Bible Study, we will be picking back up in our Gospel-Centered Life study with week two of addressing “heart idolatry.” Two resources in particular I encourage you to check out are David Powlison’s X-Ray Questions (PDF) and chapter 4 of Paul Tripp’s book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands (called “The Heart of the Matter”). We will focus on addressing the root idols that cause us to rely on “functional saviors” rather than Jesus and offer some suggestions to remove, crush, and destroy those idols in our lives.
For our worship gathering, Pastor Tom will be preaching from Acts 2 on the theme of biblical fellowship. We will be looking at how the early church recently formed after Pentecost. How is the corporate nature of the church different from the world? What unifies believers? What are hindrances to true biblical fellowship? Are we are in agreement on what fellowship is in the first place? Why do we need to participate in meaningful fellowship on a regular basis? These questions and others Pastor Tom hopes to address from God’s Word.
Grace Scattered (Sunday Night)
On Sunday evening, Grace will be scattered throughout SW Florida in through our Grace Community Groups (GCGs) where we hope to share with one another each others’ lives (fellowship) and how the morning’s message is impacting and changing the way we think, feel, and live as Christians. With every message, there is a call for repentance towards God and faith in Jesus. Be sure to connect in a GCG this Sunday night to encourage one another through gospel-driven fellowship that reaches out to our unbelieving community.
Labels: Biblical Fellowship, Grace Baptist Church, Grace Gathered | posted by TimBrister at 8:20 am | Categories: Community, Grace Gathered, News and Announcements |
Adding An Additional Service - Pray and Participate
Over the past several months, the pastors have been meeting to assess the encroaching needs of our congregation in our gathered meetings on Sunday morning. While we grieve over the loss of several families in recent months due to the economy and relocation, God has continued to bless Grace with an increase of 35-40 more in attendance compared to last year. While the importance of this issue has not gone unnoticed, the urgency of it became acutely aware when extra chairs were necessary to seat guests during the month of August, a summer month with typically lower-than-average attendance.
Not only has seating capacity been an issue, we are also needing to address traffic flow, restroom availability, and parking availability. These practical reasons were addressed on Wednesday, October 7 by Pastor Tom. Here are the downloadable resources for your use:
* Practical Considerations (13-page PDF)
* Practical Considerations (audio/MP3)
On Wednesday, October 14, Pastor Tom (along with pastors Ken and Tim) will address the theological considerations and in particular how adding an additional service plays a part in facilitating what God is doing at Grace through the blessing of new attenders, believers, and members. A PDF and MP3 of that presentation will likely be made available as well.
The recommended Sunday morning schedule will change slightly with the addition of a new service. The pastors are recommending that beginning Sunday, November 1, 2009, the Sunday morning schedule change to the following:
8:00AM-9:15AM Early Worship
9:30AM-10:30AM Sunday School
10:45AM-12:15PM Late Worship
11:00AM-12:00PM Spanish Sunday School
12:15PM-1:45PM Spanish Worship Service
As you can imagine, there will be several opportunities to serve among the various ministry teams in both services including the nursery, greeting team, welcoming team, media team, ushers, and parking team. A survey will be made available to you on Wednesday, October 14th to discover the ways in which God may be leading you to serve in any of these areas. On the following Wednesday, October 21, we will hold our annual members’ meeting and vote on adding another Sunday morning service.
We ask that all members of Grace continue to pray and participate in this important process to discern God’s will as we seek to be faithful stewards of all His wonderful blessings, not the least of which are the people from our community who are coming to hear the gospel preached through the leading of the Holy Spirit. This is an exciting time in the life of our church, and the pastors look forward to carefully lead in a manner that faces the future in faith by addressing the present opportunities with a passion for God’s glory in the advance of His church.
Labels: Additional Service, Grace Baptist Church, Resources | posted by TimBrister at 8:27 pm | Categories: News and Announcements, Resources |
Spiritual Warfare Series Airing on Pilgrim Radio Network
From November 2008 to May 2009, Pastor Tom Ascol preached a 16-sermon series on Spiritual Warfare from Ephesians 6:10-20. This sermon series is scheduled to air on “Extra Credit” on the Pilgrim Radio Network, weekdays from October 19 through November 9. A complete listing of message titles and airdates can be found at Pilgrimradio.com. According to their website, the sermons will air at 5AM, 5PM, and 10PM PST each weekday.
Labels: Grace Baptist Church, Pilgrim Radio Network, Spiritual Warfare, Tom Ascol | posted by TimBrister at 10:15 am | Categories: News and Announcements, Sermons, Spiritual Warfare |
Nathaniel’s Hope on True Grace
Nathaniel’s Hope, a ministry dedicated to sharing hope with kids with special needs (VIP kids) and their families, has recently been added under the “Ministries” section of our website. As you can see, in a matter of a couple of weeks, some 60 folks from Grace will be trained in the free respite care provided for families of special needs children thorugh a program called Buddy Break. Grace Baptist Church has been blessed to have special needs children whom we have embraced and enjoyed in our fellowship.
If you would like to be part or volunteer with Nathaniel’s Hope, be sure to contact Denise Jensen or call the church office (239.772.1400). For more information about Nathaniel’s Hope, see both the NH page as well as Buddy Break on the True Grace website.
Labels: Autism, Grace Baptist Church, Nathaniel's Hope, Special Needs Children | posted by TimBrister at 9:53 pm | Categories: New Website Content, News and Announcements |
Redemption Defined by Pastor Tom Ascol
The book, John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology (ed. Burk Parsons) was just released last week by Reformation Trust, and Pastor Tom Ascol has written a chapter in the book addressing John Calvin and the atonement entitled “Redemption Defined” (for a quick preview of the book, go here).
In his chapter, Pastor Tom addresses both the necessity and nature of the atonement, addressing three key words–propitiation, redemption, and reconciliation. He begins in the introduction to his chapter with the following words by John Calvin:
“In all the creatures, indeed, both high and low, the glory of God shines, but nowhere has it shone more brightly than in the cross, in which there has been an astonishing change of things, the condemnation of all men has been manifested, sin has been blotted out, salvation has been restored to men; and, in short, the whole world has been renewed, and everything restored to good order.”
In my preview of this book, I gave the following preliminary thoughts to the book:
In recent years, there have been several great compilation books addressing the lives, theology, and ministry of the Puritans, Jonathan Edwards, and other giants of the faith. To see this work on John Calvin come out on the eve of the 500th year of his birth looks to be a great resource for those reading of Calvin for the first time as well as those who have found him a familiar friend and mentor in the faith. Be sure to pick up a copy of this book comprised of doctrinally rich and devotionally rewarding chapters of one of the greatest theologians (as well as minister and church planter) of church history.
Calvin was right when he said that salvation consists in the doctrine of the cross, and we would be challenged to read the lives of those who made the cross the central focus of thinking, believing, and living.
Labels: Atonement, John Calvin, Redemption Accomplished | posted by TimBrister at 10:53 am | Categories: News and Announcements, Resources |
