• Daniel Baker • Posted in Every-Member Ministry, Life in the Church, Sermons
What do these have in common? All three will converge this Sunday morning at SGC. At least, that's our hope as we have been talking to Jermaine Powell about the possibility of creating some pieces of art that could embellish our auditorium but also capture some of the essence of what we are preaching.
• Tim Chester and Steve Timmis • Posted in Evangelism, Every-Member Ministry, Life in the Church, Mission
"Not all of us are eloquent or engaging. Not everyone can think on their feet. Some people are simply not good at speaking to strangers and forming new friendships. One of the practical benefits of the three-strand model of evangelism [building relationships, sharing the gospel, introducing people to community] is that it gives a role to all of God's people. By making evangelism a community project, it also takes seriously the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit in distributing a variety of gifts among his people. Everyone has a part to play--the new Christian, the introvert, the extrovert, the eloquent,…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Sanctification, Sermons, Suffering
This Sunday we begin a new sermon series, Wisdom for Suffering. The idea of this series is to take four books in the Wisdom Literature of the Bible and approach them with this question, "What does this have to tell me about suffering?" The sermons will look at the book of Job (Aug. 2), the book of Psalms (Aug. 9, 16), the book of Proverbs (Aug. 23), and the book of Ecclesiastes (Aug. 30).
The issue of suffering is a massive and complex one. This is true at a personal level, because my suffering has unique elements to it that…
• Jim Martin • Posted in Discipleship, Life in the Church, Relationships, Sermons
Yesterday Jim preached on 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15. The primary burden of the text is for us not to walk in idleness--to be "busy at work" and not be "busybodies" (3:11). His opening sections on idleness were excellent, but something particularly helpful was a couple great questions on how to know whether you're being a "busybody" and imposing yourself in someone's life where it isn't right:
- Is the other person inviting my help?
- Is this about them, or is it really about me?
Sometimes I'm not invited in and I should stay out of someone's business, because it's…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Evangelism, Mission, SG, Vision
This past Sunday a group of us met for what we called a "missions round table." The point of the meeting was to talk with others at SGC who are especially interested in the cause of foreign missions. We all agreed that the gathering was encouraging and exciting. God is accomplishing his purposes throughout the world, and it is a joy to hear about some of that. (Don't miss the end of this post where I explain who was there and what they contributed.)
THE BIBLE AND THE NATIONS
We began with a brief look at the Bible's promises regarding…
• Josiah Ruhl • Posted in Discipleship, Evangelism, Every-Member Ministry, Mission, Service
In June two of our families, the (Joby) Ruhls and the Greguses, went to the Agua Viva Children's Home in Guatemala. Here is a letter from the Ruhls.
Dear Friends,
Below is a family update and a praise report from our mission trip to Guatemala. We are continually grateful for the friendship and support from each of you as we walk through life together. We look forward to continued growth in our relationship with each one of you as we walk through life together here at our new "home" in NC.
Family Update
We moved into our new…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Gospel, Grace, Sanctification, Sermons
Amazing Grace has to be one of the most familiar Christian hymns of all time. I haven't done any studies on it, but it seems to find it's way into all kinds of Christian and secular movies. If you start the song on a Sunday, everyone present will sing along, not just those who grew up in your church. It is a vivid reminder that something is "amazing" and worth singing about, namely, "grace." But what exactly is "grace"? Let's define it and then look to the New Testament to answer six important questions about it.
And by the way,…
• Mike Seaver • Posted in Mission, Unity
Church, here is an update from Mike Seaver at Sovereign Grace Church of the Lowcountry in Charleston, SC.
Thanks so much for praying!
We have a collaborative effort of several local churches called 1Charleston that we have been doing for about a year. We are in great position to mobilize (and we have been mobilizing) and we are calling all Charleston pastors across racial and denominational lines to pray together. We are gathering on Tuesday night, June 30th in Emanuel AME Church. Please pray for that time together.
We are then calling on folks from the city to have…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Sanctification, Sermons, Theology
Last Sunday we finished our 1 Thessalonians series and looked at 5:23 in that letter, "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." The main burden of this text is assuring us that God will indeed finish his work of making us holy. He will not fail in that!
But this verse also presents us with a question: When it says "spirit and soul and body," is it assuming that we have three distinct parts in us—that…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Discipleship, Sermons, Theology
This week we begin a short series out of 2 Thessalonians. Read the book if you can. It's only three chapters. For extra-credit look again at Acts 17:1-9 to recall what the church plant in Thessalonica looked like. Here are five things to know as we approach these sermons:
1. THE ORIGINAL CHURCH PLANT
In Acts 17 a group of apostles went to the city of Thessalonica to plant a church, estimated to be in 49 A.D. This was the team sent out by the Jerusalem church to deliver the letter written in Acts 15. Paul and Barnabas were originally…