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Last Sunday we looked at Acts 5 and what it says about the power of God—his holy power that (rightly) inspires fear and his healing power that inspires faith. As Christians we live with the dual awareness that our God is both a "consuming fire" (Heb 12:29) and so we ought to be reverent, and he occupies a "throne of grace" (Heb 4:16) and so we ought to run to him boldly and often! One story that demonstrates both of these is the story of Mitsuo Fuchida and Jacob DeShazer.

This March SGC is hosting a one-day seminar by author and speaker Ken Sande. Many of us have read and benefitted from his book, The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, and its related materials. This March he'll be speaking on a new series of teachings he's developed on Relational Wisdom. Check out this post for the kinds of questions he'll be addressing.

This summer Dr. James Anderson of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte will be joining Dr. Nathan Sasser for a worldview conference at SGC (July 26–28, 2019). To give you a brief introduction to Dr. Anderson, here is a short video he did to provide some guidance on how to respond to the issue of transgenderism

We had a snafu Sunday so here are the sermon notes as a blog post, since there's no Podcast.

There are two obvious obstacles to consistent and meaningful devotions that I will mention briefly before moving on: (1) sin and (2) lack of affection 

1. In prayer, reading, and meditation we make eye-contact with God. And, like a child with his earthly father, when we are in habitual, secret, unrepentant, sin we are loathed to make eye-contact with our heavenly Father. Repent, walk in the light. Draw near to Him and he will draw near to you. 
2. If you do not truly love God, if your emotions, affections, and joy are not securely engaged and tied up in right…

In January 1935, J. Gresham Machen gave a series of radio messages “on the deity of Christ.” This was only a month after the New York Times reported that his church trial (not criminal) would begin in the PCUSA (Presbyterian Church, USA). He was put on trial for taking a stand against using the church's money to fund missionaries like Pearl S. Buck, who didn't believe in the virgin birth or the deity of Christ and didn't feel such issues should be part of the gospel message on the mission field.

Many of our shoeboxes we packed last year were tracked to Togo and included a soccer ball and other items identical to the items in Kevin's shoebox. Through an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift and The Greatest Journey discipleship program, God opened the hearts of Kevin and his family to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why we love Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes which are effective tools to not only reach children but to multiply the Gospel to family and community.

Every so many years I find myself once again wrestling with complementarianism. My agreement with the foundational theology behind complementarianism doesn’t change, but how it works itself out in the season I am in does change.

This week the elders went to Orlando for the annual SG Pastors Conference (teachings are all here). How encouraging to hear about God’s work throughout the world and to be challenged in so many ways! It was the most edifying conference we’ve had in years and reminded us of the gift of partnership.

“I am single. I am complementarian. A lot of times people don’t see how those things go hand in hand.”

That’s how Katie Van Dyke begins her article, “Complementarianism and the Single Woman.”  She goes on to make several points useful to explore as we continue this series on complementarianism.