Grace Blog
Great Father’s Day Gift
Father’s Day is less than a month away, and I want to point you to a great little bundle of books just for dads. The Good Book Company has bundled Gospel Centered Family, Man of God, and A Few Good Men for one great price of $14.99. Another reason why you may want to get this bundle is that we will be using the book Gospel Centered Family during the summer months in our Bible Study time on Sundays.
Labels: Cape Coral, Father's Day, Gospel-Centered Family, Grace Baptist Church | posted by TimBrister at 9:01 am | Categories: Parenting/Family, Resources |
2010 Biblical Parenting Seminar
The 2010 Biblical Parenting Seminar hosted by Tom and Donna Ascol is now available for download. Both the Friday night and Saturday morning sessions are approximately 2 1/2 hours long. You can click on the following links for the MP3s.
* Friday Night Sessions
* Saturday Morning Sessions
Labels: Biblical Parenting, Cape Coral, Grace Baptist Church, Parenting, Tom Ascol | posted by TimBrister at 12:28 pm | Categories: Parenting/Family, Resources |
2010 Together for the Gospel Videos
I mentioned this past Sunday that the videos from the 2010 Together for the Gospel have been posted online. To make them more accessible to you, I am posting them below. Enjoy!
Mark Dever - “The Church Is the Gospel Made Visible”
T4G 2010 — Session 1 — Mark Dever from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.
R.C. Sproul - “The Defense and Confirmation of the Gospel”
T4G 2010 — Session 2 — R.C. Sproul from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.
Albert Mohler - “Trajectories Toward an Adjusted Gospel”
T4G 2010 — Session 3 — Al Mohler from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.
Thabiti Anyabwile - “Fine-Sounding Arguments - How Wrongly Engaging the Culture Adjusts the Gospel”
T4G 2010 — Session 4 — Thabiti Anyabwile from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.
John MacArthur - “The Theology of Sleep”
T4G 2010 — Session 5 — John MacArthur from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.
John Piper - “Did Jesus Preach Paul’s Gospel?”
T4G 2010 — Session 6 — John Piper from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.
Ligon Duncan - “Did the Father’s Know the Gospel?”
T4G 2010 — Session 7 — Ligon Duncan from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.
Matt Chandler (with C.J. Mahaney)
T4G 2010 — Session 8 — Matt Chandler from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.
C.J. Mahaney - “Ordinary Pastors”
T4G 2010 — Session 9 — C.J. Mahaney from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.
Labels: 2010 Together for the Gospel, Albert Mohler, C.J. Mahaney, John Piper, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, Matt Chandler, R.C. Sproul, Thabiti Anyabwile, Videos | posted by TimBrister at 12:42 pm | Categories: Gospel, Resources |
Tomorrow - A Day of Prayer and Fasting for Sumatra
As we approach the day of prayer and fasting, consider the following thoughts on the place of fasting for believers. Ask the Lord to enable us truly to repent of our sins and humble ourselves as a congregation before Him. Pray that He would revive us and restore His powerful presence among us as a church, and as a nation. Prepare this week to set aside this Wednesday for special prayer and fasting. Take time this week to review these notes. Look up the Scriptures cited. Plan to join in this effort on Wednesday.
What is Fasting?
*Fasting is a Christian’s voluntary abstinence from food and other legitimate enjoyments for spiritual purposes.
“To make the matter complete, we would add that fasting, if we conceive of it truly, must not only be confined to the question of food and drink; fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some spiritual purpose”
-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“Whenever men are to pray to God concerning any great matter, it would be expedient to appoint fasting along with prayer.”
-John Calvin
Fasting helps the believer to concentrate the mind and body on spiritual concerns so that fervent, extra-ordinary prayer might be given to those concerns.
Various kinds of fasts are mentioned in the Bible:
• A Normal Fast involves abstaining from all food, but not from water. (Mt. 4:2)
• A Partial Fast is a limitation of the diet but not abstention from all food. (Dan. 1:12; Mt. 3:4)
• An Absolute Fast is the avoidance of all food & liquid, even water. (Ezra 10:6; Esther 4:16; Acts 9:9).
• A Supernatural Fast which require God’s supernatural intervention into the bodily processes & are not repeatable apart from the lord’s specific calling & miraculous provision. (Deut. 9:9; 1 Kings 19:8)
• A Private Fast is the one referred to most often by Jesus, and should be done without calling attention to oneself. (Mt. 6:16-18)
• Congregational Fasts involve the church participating together. (Joel 2:15-16; Acts 13:2)
• A National Fast is a call to the nation to fast. (2 Chron. 20:3; Neh.9:1; Jonah 3:5-8) (The US Congress has called 3 national fasts, under John Adams, James Madison and Abraham Lincoln)
• There was one Regular Fast under the Old Covenant. (Lev. 16:29-21)
• Occasional Fasts which occur on special occasions as the need arises. (Mt. 9:15)
On Wednesday, we will be fasting as a congregation. Most will enter into this as a normal fast. Some will participate with an absolute fast. Others will engage in a partial fast. Your physical and medical health should be taken into consideration before fasting. Even those who for medical and health reasons should not abstain from food can abstain from other legitimate enjoyments such as, TV, internet browsing, recreation, entertainment, etc.
Fasting Should Be Done for a Purpose
• To Strengthen Prayer (Ezra 8:3)
• To Seek God’s Guidance (Judges 20-v. 26; Acts 14:23)
• To Express Grief (1 Sam. 31:13; 2 Sam. 1:11-12; 1 Jn. 1:9; 1 Sam. 20:34)
• To Seek Divine Deliverance/Protection (2 Chron. 20:3-4; Ezra 8:21-23; Esther 4:16)
• To Express Repentance and a Return to God (1 Sam. 7:6; Joel 2:12; Jonah 3:5-8)
• To Humble Oneself before God (Ps. 35:13)
• To Express Concern for the Word of God (Neh. 1:3-4; Dan. 9:3)
• To Overcome Temptation and Dedicate Oneself to God (Matt. 4:1-2)
• To Express Love and Devotion to God (Lk. 2:37; Zechariah 7:5)
We will be fasting to help focus our attention on the desperate need of the Gospel to break through on the island of Sumatra. Pray for the believers who are there. Pray for more workers to be sent. Pray for the Spirit to own the Word throughout that island to the salvation of many in this generation.
Labels: Cape Coral, Fasting, Grace Baptist Church, Prayer | posted by TimBrister at 1:25 pm | Categories: Fasting, Prayer, Resources |
God’s Wonderful Surpise: The Resurrection Story
Below is the video account of the resurrection from The Jesus Storybook Bible - a fantastic resource for walking your children through the Bible while at the same time always pointing them to Jesus. Take a moment to share this video with your children this Easter season!
Labels: Cape Coral, Easter, Grace Baptist Church, Jesus, Resurrection, The Jesus Storybook Bible | posted by TimBrister at 2:36 pm | Categories: Jesus, Parenting/Family, Resources |
C.J. Mahaney on Biblical Manhood
One of the things we try to do through our blog is point you to resources that would be helpful in everyday life as a Christian. Below is an interview with C.J. Mahaney who provides some solid counsel on what it means to intentionally pursue godliness as a man, husband, and father. He’s a general breakdown of the interview:
* 3:00—18:00, how to be wise as a young man and how fathers should lead their sons
* 18:00—30:00, how men can grow in leading their wife and children
* 30:00—40:00, how men can seek fellowship and invite criticism
Q&A on Biblical Masculinity from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.
Here are the books C.J. mentions:
* Derek Kidner, Proverbs
* Ed Welch, When People Are Big and God Is Small
* Piper and Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
(HT: JT)
Labels: Biblical Manhood, C.J. Mahaney, Cape Coral, Fathering, Grace Baptist Church | posted by TimBrister at 9:08 am | Categories: Parenting/Family, Resources |
The Missional Church: A Simple Presentation
Have you ever wondered what people mean when they talk about “the missional church”? The word “missional” is being used and claimed by churches of all types with all kinds of methodology. It certainly could use some clarification in our day. In any case, below is a short, two minute video which explains in simple terms the missional church in general. I found it helpful. I hope you do too.
Labels: Cape Coral, Grace Baptist Church, The Missional Church | posted by TimBrister at 7:34 am | Categories: Missional, Resources |
2010: A Clear, Close, and Continual Looking to Jesus
I had the privilege of preaching on the first two Sunday’s of 2010, and during preparation the Lord led me to a familiar passage–Hebrews 12:1-3. Although familiar, this passage proved to be very fruitful and engaging to my own heart, and I pray that you were encouraged as well. It is my hope that this year we will have a clearer, closer, and more continual looking to Jesus. The kind of endurance we need this year is nourished in the gospel, and the danger we face each day is to allow weights to distract us or unbelief to blind us from beholding the author and finisher of our faith.
For your benefit, I am making my sermon manuscripts available here for you to download. If you would like to listen or download the audio, go here for the first sermon and go here for the second sermon.
To download my two manuscripts put into one (PDF), simply click here.
Labels: Gospel, Hebrews 12:1-3, Jesus, New Year | posted by TimBrister at 12:02 am | Categories: Jesus, Resources, Sermons |
J.I. Packer on Work and Vocation
In light of Sunday’s sermon on work by Pastor Tom, check out these short clips of J.I. Packer talking about the importance of work and vocation.
Work as a daily ministry . . .
On God and Vocation . . .
Offering your work to God . . .
Labels: Calling, Grace Baptist Church, J.I. Packer, Vocation, Work | posted by TimBrister at 2:15 pm | Categories: Resources, Work/Vocation |
Connect with and Pray for the Persecuted Church!
This past Sunday, we heard an important message from Pastor Tom about remembering those in chains and leveraging our influence for the helpless and needy around the world. In our evening gathering, we took time to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering and giving their lives because of their faith in Jesus. I want to give you some ways in which you can connect with the persecuted church both online and offline. Hope these resources and avenues will be useful to you as you take the call to remember them:
Voice of the Martyrs
* Website
* Blog
* YouTube
* Facebook
* Twitter and here
* Newsroom
* Prayer Updates
* Prisoner Alert
* Podcast
* FREE Newsletter 
* Bibles Unbound
For those on Facebook:
* Prisoner Alert Facebook App
Open Doors
* Website
* Newsroom
* Blog
* Twitter
* Facebook
* YouTube
* GET INVOLVED
* FREE Newsletter
Connect with these organizations. Link arms with fellow believers. Pray for them. Write to them. Give.
Labels: International Day of Prayer, Open Doors USA, Persecution, Voice of the Martyrs | posted by TimBrister at 1:35 pm | Categories: Persecution, Prayer, Resources |
Adding An Additional Service - Resources
Over the past couple of weeks, the pastors of Grace have sought to make available the thinking and planning as it relates to our proposal to add an additional morning worship service to our Grace Gathered schedule. Below are the articles, powerpoint presentations, and audio from messages related to this proposal (congregational meetings not available to the public).
* Practical Considerations (powerpoint in PDF)
* Practical Considerations (audio and MP3)
* Theological Considerations (powerpoint in PDF)
* Theological Considerations (audio and MP3)
* Dynamics of Church Leadership (audio and MP3)
* The Church Reformed, Always Reforming (audio and MP3)
* Summary Paper for Adding an Additional Service (PDF)
Labels: Adding Additional Service, Grace Baptist Church, Multiple Service | posted by TimBrister at 10:58 am | Categories: Administrative, Grace Gathered, Resources |
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 |
Proverbs 8 Study Guide & Discussion Questions
In our Grace Community Groups (GCGs), we have been seeking to apply God’s Word (text) to our lives (context) as preached from Pastor Tom Ascol and his series through the book of Proverbs. In our October GCG, we took up chapter eight of Proverbs, focusing on the nature, value, and accessibility of wisdom. I am making the study guide and discussion questions available online for download to anyone who might find it profitable for their small group or personal devotion.
To download the Proverbs 8 study guide and questions, click here (PDF).
Labels: Community Groups, Grace Baptist Church, Proverbs 8 | posted by TimBrister at 1:39 pm | Categories: Community, GCG Study Guides, Proverbs, Resources, Small Groups |
Taking Charge of the Television
Randy Alcorn tackles the question of how parents should handle the television when kids are out of school. Parents in many ways are gate-keepers to their children and exercise wisdom in skillfully navigating the treacherous waters of a toxic culture whose principle medium is that of the television. Alcorn offers the following 14 suggestions for “taking charge of the t.v.”:
Labels: Parenting, Shepherding Your Children's Hearts, Television | posted by TimBrister at 9:46 am | Categories: Parenting/Family, Resources |
The Sufficiency of the Gospel by Tim Keller
In his article, “The Centrality of the Gospel,” Tim Keller explains how the gospel is truly sufficient for all of life. Keller writes (emphasis mine):
We never “get beyond the gospel” in our Christian life to something more “advanced.” The gospel is not the first “step” in a “stairway” of truths, rather, it is more like the “hub” in a “wheel” of truth. The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A-Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make progress in the kingdom.
We are not justified by the gospel and then sanctified by obedience, but the gospel is the way we grow (Gal. 3:1-3) and are renewed (Col. 1:6). It is the solution to each problem, the key to each closed door, the power through every barrier (Rom. 1:16-17). It is very common in the church to think as follows. “The gospel is for non-Christians. One needs it to be saved. But once saved, you grow through hard work and obedience.” But Col. 1:6 shows that this is a mistake. Both confession and “hard work” that is not arising from and “in line” with the gospel will not sanctify you–it will strangle you. All our problems come from a failure to apply the gospel. Thus when Paul left the Ephesians he committed them “to the word of his grace, which can build you up” (Acts 20:32).
The main problem, then, in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not “used” the gospel in and on all parts of our life. Richard Lovelace says that most people’s problems are just a failure to be oriented to the gospel–a failure to grasp and believe it through and through. Luther says, “The truth of the Gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine. . . . Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.” The gospel is not easily comprehended. Paul says that the gospel only does its renewing work in us as we understand it in all its truth. All of us, to some degree live around the truth of the gospel but do not “get” it. So the key to continual and deeper spiritual renewal and revival is the continual re-discovery of the gospel. A stage of renewal is always the discovery of a new implication or application of the gospel–seing more of its truth. This is true for either an individual or a church.
Labels: Gospel, Gospel-Centered, Sufficiency of Gospel, Tim Keller | posted by TimBrister at 8:20 am | Categories: Gospel, Resources |
