Grace Blog
The Power of Prayer in Community
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s little book Life Together is a classic on biblical community. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to check it out. I wanted to post an excerpt where Bonhoeffer speaks of the impact that praying for one another brings in true community. Let us consider these words as we continue to share our lives together on mission for the sake of the gospel and glory of Christ.
“A Christian community either lives by the intercessory prayers of its members for one another, or the community will be destroyed. I can no longer condemn or hate other Christians for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble they cause me. In intercessory prayer the face that may have been strange and intolerable to me is transformed into the face of one for whom Christ died, the face of a pardoned sinner. That is a blessed discovery for the Christian who is beginning to offer intercessory prayer for others. As far as we are concerned, there is no dislike, no personal tension, no disunity or strife, that cannot be overcome by intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the community must enter every day.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 90.
Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Grace Baptist Church, Life Together, Prayer | posted by TimBrister at 7:42 am | Categories: Community, Prayer |
The Church Is Not a Restaurant
Mark Driscoll shares on the difference between the church being a family versus a restaurant. Driscoll makes some great points here about biblical community being shaped by service and mission. Check it out.
Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Consumerism, Grace Baptist Church, Mark Driscoll | posted by TimBrister at 11:52 pm | Categories: Community, Videos |
Steve Timmis on the the Nature of Gospel Community
Below is a short but clear explanation of what gospel community looks like by Steve Timmis, author of Total Church. The Towers, the news service of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, interviewed Timmis which can be viewed here. Check it out.
Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Gospel, Gospel Community, Grace Baptist Church, Steve Timmis | posted by TimBrister at 10:28 pm | Categories: Community, Gospel, Small Groups |
How to be a community group member
Tony Payne, who I mentioned earlier, has written an excellent article called “How to be a small group member” in a Matthias Minizine focusing on loving your church. He explains that the primary reason for belonging to a small group is:
“to give us opportunity love and encourage other people in Christ. It’s not about me; it’s about them. And it’s about them because of Christ.”
Payne rightly notes that “we go to small groups not primarily to have our needs met, but to meet the needs of others” and “the more more we focus on loving others and doing whatever we can for them, the more encouragement and strength we find ourselves.”
So how can we practically fulfill our primary reason for existing in community? Payne lays out five simple ways:
Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Grace Baptist Church, Small Groups, Tony Payne | posted by TimBrister at 3:04 pm | Categories: Community, Small Groups |
The Relational/Social Aspect of Being Created in the Image of God
When we look at the creation account, we learn that man (human beings) are created in the image of God. But what exactly does this mean? Take a look at Genesis 1:26-27 which says:
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
What we find is that first, God exists in community–”let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–three persons in the Godhead–is one of perfect unity, love, and intimacy. What we see recorded in Scripture is how the Father delights in His Son and desires to see Him glorified, how the Son loves the Father and does nothing apart from His purpose and plan, and how the Spirit reveals the Father and magnifies the Son. To be created in the image of God means to be created in the image of the Triune God who existed in community before the world was ever created.
Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Grace Baptist Church, Image of God, Imago Dei | posted by TimBrister at 10:12 am | Categories: Community |
Grace Community Groups - A Resource Directory
This month marks one year that we began meeting monthly in small groups (Grace Community Groups). At the end of this month, we will be voting on the proposal by our elders to begin meeting three weeks each month in our GCGs (fourth together for Lord’s Supper and Baptism service). Over the course of this past year, dozens of resources have been made available, including articles, powerpoint presentations, PDF position papers, sermons, and book recommendations. Below is a history of our Grace Community Groups, including a resource directory to assist you in learning, praying, and seeking God’s direction regarding the upcoming proposal.
Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Grace Baptist Church, Small Groups | posted by TimBrister at 4:17 pm | Categories: Community, Small Groups |
Explaining Community Life
Here is an excellent clip from Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA (Francis Chan is lead pastor) about community life shaped by the gospel.
Community from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.
Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Gospel, Grace Baptist Church | posted by TimBrister at 11:23 am | Categories: Community, Gospel, Small Groups |
Events vs. Family - Giving Appropriate Emphasis
Tim Chester, author of several books include Total Church, recently wrote a thought-provoking blogpost about performance-based ministry and real-life ministry as it relates to the “store-front” image of the church. His desire is that people not ask about their meetings (events) but rather ask about how the church lives their lives together with gospel intentionality.
Chester writes:
For many Christians church is an event. It is a meeting you attend or a place you enter. Churches may talk about being a family, but most of their resources go into the Sunday morning event. Acquiring a building. Preparing the sermon. Producing the bulletin. Equipping a venue with sound and light. Planning the show. Practicing the band. That’s were their money and their staff time go. We talk about being family and community, but when you look at how we spend our time and money it becomes clear that in practice we view church as an event.
People often ask me about our meetings. ‘When do you meet? Where? What do you do when you meet together?’ But if you ask those questions then you have completely missed the point! We’re not advocating a new way of doing meetings. Actually our meetings are not good! The music is poor and the teaching is nothing you’d go out of your way to hear. What matters to us is our shared life: sharing our lives, doing ordinary life with gospel intentionality.
The church will never out perform TV shows and music videos. But there is nothing like the community life of the church. There is nowhere else where diverse people come together. There is nowhere else were broken people find a home. There is nowhere else when grace is experienced. There is nowhere else where God is present by his Spirit.
Although our corporate times of gathered worship are very important in the life of our church, relatively speaking if we are a healthy church, we would view church life much more than an “event” but a shared journey where we live life together on mission in our community with a gospel-driven passion. While the de-churched in our community will perhaps find their way to one of our corporate gatherings, the unchurched and unreached people will not exposed to the glorious realities of the gospel without the community apologetic and everyday witness of kingdom living through word (proclamation) and deed (service).
While we do not want diminish the significance of our times of gathered corporate worship, we ought to raise the significance of everyday life in between these gatherings to authentically and intentionality demonstrate how the gospel continues to transform our lives where the Spirit of God makes ordinary moments extraordinary opportunities for glorying in Jesus Christ!
Labels: Cape Coral, Community, Family Life, Grace Baptist Church, Tim Chester | posted by TimBrister at 8:28 am | Categories: Community, Gospel, Small Groups |
Killer Community Tips
Here’s a light-hearted way of communicating some wrong-headed view of community groups . . .
Labels: Community, Small Groups | posted by TimBrister at 12:42 pm | Categories: Community, Small Groups |
Seven Reasons Why Preaching Is NOT Enough - John Piper
Much like Grace, Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN (where John Piper is lead pastor) has been transitioning in structure for small group ministry. In his exposition on John 5, Piper explained the importance of small group for healthy body life and why preaching is NOT enough. From Piper’s manuscript (emphasis mine):
Last Sunday when I met with the small group leaders of the Downtown Campus, I tried to show them how essential their role is at this church by giving them seven reasons my preaching is not enough—seven reasons why perseverance in faith and growth in faith call for Christians to meet regularly in a face-to-face way to “serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). God intends to do things in you which he will only do through the ministry of other believers.
7 Reasons We Need Small Groups
He has given pastors to the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12). I believe in what I do. And I believe that it is not enough. Here are the seven reasons I gave the small group leaders.
1. The impulse [to] avoid painful growth by disappearing safely into the crowd in corporate worship is very strong.
2. The tendency toward passivity in listening to a sermon is part of our human weakness.
3. Listeners in a big group can more easily evade redemptive crises. If tears well up in your eyes in a small group, wise friends will gently find out why. But in a large gathering, you can just walk away from it.
4. Listeners in a large group tend to neglect efforts of personal application. The sermon may touch a nerve of conviction, but without someone to press in, it can easily be avoided.
5. Opportunity for questions leading to growth is missing. Sermons are not dialogue. Nor should they be. But asking questions is a key to understanding and growth. Small groups are great occasions for this.
6. Accountability for follow-through on good resolves is missing. But if someone knows what you intended to do, the resolve is stronger.
7. Prayer support for a specific need or conviction or resolve goes wanting. O how many blessings we do not have because we are not surrounded by a band of friends who pray for us.So please know that when this small-group ministry of our church is lifted up, I don’t think it’s an optional add-on to basic Christian living. I think it is normal, healthy, needed, New Testament Christianity. I pray that you will be part of one of these small groups or that you will get the training and start one. This is the main strategy through which our pastors and elders shepherd the flock at Bethlehem: Elders > small group leaders > members to one another.
These seven points provided Piper are important to consider, especially because of the fact that we are all members of one another and participants in the change God wants to bring in conforming us more into the image of Christ.
Labels: Bethlehem Baptist Church, Community, Grace Baptist Church, John Piper, Small Groups | posted by TimBrister at 2:01 pm | Categories: Community, Small Groups |
Counsel on Giving and Receiving Correction
In his message on giving and receiving correction, Pastor Tom concluded with the following points of application on how to give and how to receive correction. Here they are:
On Giving Correction
1. Correct in love
a. Proverbs 3:11, 12 says, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction; For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.”
b. Don’t let your frustration of pain drive your words. Deal with any personal issues in your own heart first before you try to speak correctively.
c. Pray before you speak. Ask the Lord to help you love the one you will address.
2. Correct with a redemptive purpose
a. Christ died to redeem us, to make us holy; you can be a means of your brother’s or sister’s sanctification by offering godly correction.
b. Do not let it be personal—revenge; wanting her to feel as badly as you do; wanting to make yourself look better, etc.
c. Ask yourself what God wants for this person, and see yourself as an instrument in the Lord’s hands to bring it about
d. Matt 18:15-18—remember that the goal is always “to win your brother”
e. Begin with words of affirmation
f. Examine yourself before you offer your appraisal of someone else. Matthew 7:1-6, first get the log out of your own eye before you help your brother get the speck out of his. Speak, as you would like to be spoken to
g. Speak as one who has been rescued and not one who is immune to the problem you are correcting
3. Correct plainly
a. Proverbs 26:28 says “A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.”
b. Don’t beat around the bush or merely imply what should be plainly stated. Nathan did not leave David guessing about his sin but said to him, “You are the man!”
4. Correct privately (usually)
5. Correct with well-chosen words
a. Proverbs 25:11, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver.”
b. Col. 4:6, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt…”
On Receiving Correction
1. Admit that you need correction and always will as long as you are alive
2. Recognize that God uses the critical and corrective words of others to help you overcome the deceitfulness of sin
3. Refuse to respond defensively
4. Refuse to respond despairingly
5. Accept correction and criticism as coming from God
6. Resolve, by God’s grace, to benefit from and grow as a result of criticism
7. Meditate deeply on the cross of Jesus
a. It has criticized you
b. It has justified you
8. Meditate deeply on the resurrection of Jesus
a. His resurrection guarantees yours
b. The power that raised Him from the dead resides in all those who trust Him, giving us the ability to change!
Labels: Change, Christianity, Community, Correction, Criticism | posted by TimBrister at 8:55 am | Categories: Change, Community, Reflection and Review, Words |
Why Weekly? Q&A About Grace Community Groups (PDF)
It is our goal to make as much of our materials and resources available to you, and in keeping with that goal, I am providing a downloadable PDF of this evening’s discussion on the question “Why Weekly?: A Q&A Discusion for Grace Community Groups.” This short presentation simply covers biblical considerations, current realities, and six practical reasons for transitioning to weekly community groups. If the presentation was recorded, I will also link to the MP3 from this evening.
To downlaod the document, click below:
* Why Weekly? - A Q&A Discussion for Grace Community Groups *
Labels: Community, Grace Baptist Church, Small Groups | posted by TimBrister at 8:52 pm | Categories: Church Planting, Community, Evangelism, Resources, Small Groups |
The Kingdom, the Community, and You, Part 3
This week, I have been writing about a kingdom hermeneutic–a way to interpret and shape life according to Christ who is our King and the kingdom’s advance in and through our lives. In Part 1, I focused on the preeminence of the King and how His kingdom should prioritize our thinking, inflame passionate affections, and pattern our living. In Part 2, I turned our attention to how pursuing the kingdom causes us to embrace a kingdom-ethic where we are considering others more highly than ourselves. Christ-like community takes shape when kingdom-focused disciples are embracing their identity and purpose together to pray and live out, “Your kingdom come.”
In this third and final part, I want to think about us, and in particular some points of application as it pertains to parts 1 and 2. This is crucial because we can have many “amen” moments in affirming theological principles without ever experiencing any “oh me” moments–times when we are confronted with realities requiring repentance. We are always susceptible to reverting back to our own little kingdom’s where we are king and the world revolves around us–our wants, our needs, our perspectives, our priorities, etc. When Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” we should not forget that this is a present command; in other words, repentance is required regularly not only for the advance of the kingdom but its presence as well.
There are questions we ought continually to ask ourselves, especially when it comes to the direction of our lives or our church. Are we thinking of the kingdom of God first or ourselves? Are we trying to advance our agenda or God’s agenda? When it comes to others, are we looking to take advantage of what they can do for us or taking the advantage of the opportunity to do much in blessing them?
Kingdom confrontations are going to happen. In each of us are preferences, traditions, felt needs, and a sense of entitlement, all of which serve as filters to our worldview and influence the decisions we make. They are not all bad, but we must recognize that there will be times when, if we are humbly submitted to the rule and reign of Jesus in our lives, areas will be exposed where we are rivaling or even rebelling inwardly against the very thing we are praying for!
I am convinced that God has great things in store for Grace Baptist Church, but in order for us to fully embrace all of what He will do through His church, we must cultivate a passion for the kingdom, a priority to serve others, and a daily practice of repentance as we together seek to glorify Him through radically-devoted, gospel-saturated, kingdom-advancing lives. When we have God’s perspective for our church, we think little of ourselves, more of others, and always for the glory of Jesus through the building of His church!
Labels: Community, Kingdom of God, Repentance | posted by TimBrister at 7:51 pm | Categories: Community, Jesus |
The Kingdom, the Community, and You, Part 2
In my last post, I made the case that kingdom of God should have preeminence in our lives and serve as the foundation for all we do in our lives. We should seek first the kingdom of God, pray for His kingdom come, and not look back when we’ve put our hands to the plow in following Christ. Because is pleased the Father to give us the kingdom, it should bring us pleasure to give God our hearts and lives in service to the advancement of His kingdom and glory, for to that we are called to live in a worthily manner.
With a kingdom perspective that prioritizes your life according to the things our King values the most, we should realize how good citizens of the kingdom are to relate to one another in community and to the larger community of unbelievers in the world around us. When Christ is king, we do not consider people for what they can offer us but rather how we can serve them. We are not looking to take advantage of them but rather take advantage of the opportunity to bless them. This approach to community is only possible as we appropriate the example of Christ by His Spirit who came not to be served but to serve (Matt. 20:28). At the moment when Jesus knew the Father had given all things into His hands, you would think such knowledge, power, and greatness would be encapsulated in the recognition of this fact by Himself and others in public praise, adulation, and worship. Yet, such a moment led Jesus to a towel and basin where he performed the most humbling of tasks in washing the feet of disciples (John 13:1-20).
True kingdom community is possible when we have the humble heart of our King who served others by giving His life away in loving sacrifice. Paul exhorted the Philippian believers this very thing when he wrote,
“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus . . .” (Phil. 2:3-5)
Outside of Christ, no one is more significant than ourselves. Repentance in the heart where the kingdom of Christ is present deals continual blows against pride and self-centeredness in order to liberate our thinking so that we may have the mind of Christ which humbly considers others more significant than ourselves.
The Christian community is heaven on earth where the mind and heart of Jesus is expressed through His body being knit together in love. The church becomes a more visible sign of the kingdom when those subject to the King are being conformed to His will and pattern their lives according His commands - and do in the context of a broader community outside the kingdom whose attitudes and actions are daily challenged by the reign and rule of Jesus Christ among His people. This is where the presence of the kingdom spreads a passion for the advance of the kingdom. Only in community can we demonstrate the kind of humility, love, and sacrifice for others where our preeminent interest in the kingdom fuels our personal interest in blessing of others in kingdom word (gospel) and kingdom deed (service).
Labels: Community, Gospel, Humility, Jesus, Kingdom, Service | posted by TimBrister at 7:04 am | Categories: Community, Gospel, Humility, Jesus |
The Kingdom, the Community, and You, Part 1
Over the past several weeks, we have been discussing the future of community groups in the life of Grace Baptist Church. Last Sunday night, I presented the nuts and bolts of a Great Commission vision focusing on the roles that community groups and church planting would play in our future. The elders and pastors recognize that this is a bold and aggressive vision–one that is exceedingly beyond us. In a time like this, there are real temptation and challenges we face, including facing our fears, owning up to our comfort zones, challenging our preferences and feelings in light of Scripture, and just simply counting the cost of being a faithful follower of Christ full of faith in His promises and power to perform might things in our midst.
One of the things I encourage you to consider is Christ as King and the advance of His kingdom, specifically as it relates to our lives. When Christ inaugurated His kingdom, the kingdom of God was tied to repentance. Radical changes were being made of cosmic proportions. A quick word-study on “kingdom” in the gospels will show the majority focusing on entrance into the kingdom and what it is like. When God establishes the kingdom in our hearts, it will come about through the changing of our thinking, our believing, and our living. It is nothing short of a reversal of the world’s pattern of thinking about life and conforming our lives to the pattern of God’s revealed will in Scripture. Therefore, when we pray, “Your kingdom come . . .” we are also saying, “Lord, reveal whatever is in my life that needs to change so that you have complete rule and reign in my life.” To pray for Christ’s kingdom to come without submitting and surrendering to His rights as King over our lives makes the Lord’s Prayer impersonal and our repentance superficial.
Practically speaking, daily repentance in light of God’s kingdom involves a new perspective with new priorities for our lives. Outside of Christ, we are king. The world revolves around us–what we need, what we want, who we like to have in our lives, etc. It’s a life shaped by comfort and ease, seeking a happiness with daily attempts to make the circumstances fair, painless, and pleasant. We determine our priorities because we are convinced we have the best perspective for our lives.
Until the King and His Kingdom comes.
When that happens, everything changes. Our world does not revolve around us but around Christ–what He wants for our lives, what He requires of us, and how to please Him. It’s not a comfortable or easy life; rather, it comes with cost and is illustrated by a disciple taking up his cross daily to follow Jesus. We don’t seek to make life easy, but do seek to make it glorious. As we understand His perspective for our lives, we then go about the business of repentance (changing) so that our priorities are His priorities, our passions are His passions, our purpose in life is arrested by his death on the cross.
Principally, what should dominate our lives when Christ is King is the advance of His kingdom. Jesus told His disciples to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matt. 6:33). Nothing should have a higher priority than His rule and reign in and through our lives. Even the most respectful and legitimate reasons fall short to the preeminence of the kingdom. At one point in his ministry, Jesus called a would-be disciple to follow him. The man offered what seemed to be a most reasonable excuse–the need to bury His father. In a moment some might call divine insensitivity, Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:59-62). There are some things spiritually alive people can do that spiritually dead people cannot, namely proclaiming the kingdom. Consequently, our entire lives should be invested in the kingdom, knowing that anyone who puts his hands to the plow and looking back is not fit for the kingdom of God.
Followers of Christ know that “it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Because of that reality, our lives should be radically different from the world around us. Things like selling our possessions, giving to the needy, storing up treasures in heaven rather than places where thieves and moth have access, for example. When we have discovered that God has given us the treasure of His Son, our affections should follow our chief possession. When the kingdom’s advance is our leading priority, we will know something of what it means to “walk worth of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:12).
In my next post, I will share how the preeminence of the kingdom in our lives leads us to a passionate commitment to community.
Labels: Community, Gospel, Jesus, Kingdom of God | posted by TimBrister at 2:01 pm | Categories: Community, Gospel, Jesus |
