Tomorrow (4th October 2011) is the next instalment of our “First Friday Fast” at Grace Church.
It’s one day a month we encourage all the people of Grace Church to set aside, to devote time to fasting and praying for our church and the advance of the gospel in our community and city.
To encourage us all in the importance, necessity and effectiveness of prayer, I thought I’d paste a recent entry in Charles Spurgeon’s “Morning & Evening” that affected me as I read it this week.
Charles Spurgeon, Morning & Evening, 3rd November, evening reading:
“Prayer is the never-failing resort of the Christian in any case, in every plight. When you cannot use your sword you may take to the weapon of all-prayer. Your powder may be damp, your bow-string may be relaxed, but the weapon of all-prayer need never be out of order. Leviathan laughs at the javelin, but he trembles at prayer. Sword and spear need furbishing, but prayer never rusts, and when we think it most blunt it cuts the best. Prayer is an open door which none can shut. Devils may surround you on all sides, but the way upward is always open, and as long as that road is unobstructed, you will not fall into the enemy’s hand. We can never be taken by blockade, escalade, mine, or storm, so long as heavenly succours can come down to us by Jacob’s ladder to relieve us in the time of our necessities. Prayer is never out of season: in summer and in winter its merchandize is precious. Prayer gains audience with heaven in the dead of night, in the midst of business, in the heat of noonday, in the shades of evening. In every condition, whether of poverty, or sickness, or obscurity, or slander, or doubt, your covenant God will welcome your prayer and answer it from His holy place. Nor is prayer ever futile. True prayer is evermore true power. You may not always get what you ask, but you shall always have your real wants supplied. When God does not answer His children according to the letter, He does so according to the spirit. If thou askest for coarse meal, wilt thou be angered because He gives thee the finest flour? If thou seekest bodily health, shouldst thou complain if instead thereof He makes thy sickness turn to the healing of spiritual maladies? Is it not better to have the cross sanctified than removed? This evening, my soul, forget not to offer thy petition and request, for the Lord is ready to grant thee thy desires.”
Here’s a few prayer points to help us guide our praying.
PRAYER POINTS:
We also want to pray for the upcoming evangelistic outreaches the church is involved with:
This Saturday just gone past (15th October), young adults from across South Wales and the West of England gathered at the Christchurch Centre, in Newport for a day devoted to worshipping Jesus and freshly considering what’s important for their lives.
A huge thanks to some of our worship team (Jadie Stiven, Andy Maybury, Artur Lieder, Tim & Kate Hacker, Tom Haigh) who also came across and did a stellar job leading us in worship during one of the sessions! (You can see them in action in this photo to the right!)
The simple aim for the Priority Conference was to consider the stuff that really matters; the gospel, the church, and the mission and reflect what difference these should make in our lives. Nathan Smith from Grace Church Bristol, Gareth Lloyd from Sovereign Grace Church, Merthyr and Lewis Roderick from Christchurch Newport showed us what these priorities look like for a Christian.
Session 1 – The Priority of The Gospel (Ephesians 4:1) – by Gareth Lloyd
Gareth Lloyd takes us to Ephesians 4 and shows us the only true response to the gospel of Grace is grace saturated living. But so often our instinct is anything, everything but.
Session 2 – The Priority of The Church (Ephesians 2:11-19) – by Lewis Roderick
In a culture the exalts the individual the triune God calls the christian to community, Lewis Roderick takes us to Ephesians 2 and shows us the priority of the church.
Session 3 – The Priority of Mission (Acts 1:1-14) – by Nathan Smith
Nathan Smith gives us an overview of the book of Acts and shows us the heart, extent and power of the mission Christ calls us to.
Sunday’s sermon was the second part in our “Bookends of the Christian Life” series, inspired by the book of the same title by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington.
It was preached by Peter Bowley and was entitled: “Gospel Enemy#1 – Self-Righteousness“ from Luke 18:9-14. You can listen to or download the audio file from here, or via our iTunes podcast feed.
During the message Peter shared some applications questions, taken from the Bridges/Bevington book, to help us identify self-righteousness in our own lives:
1. Do you tend to live by dos and don’ts?
2. Is it difficult for you to respect those whose standards aren’t as high as yours?
3. Do you assume that practicing the spiritual disciplines should result in God’s blessing?
4. Do you feel better than most people?
5. Has it been a long time since you identified a sin and repented of it?
6. Do you resent it when others point out your ‘spiritual blind spots’?
7. Do you readily recognise the sins of others but not your own?
8. Do you have the sense that God owes you a good life?
9. Do you get angry when difficulties and suffering come into your life?
10. Do you seldom think of the cross?
Sunday’s sermon was the second part in our “Bookends of the Christian Life” series, inspired by the book of the same title by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington.
It was preached by Peter Bowley and was entitled: “Gospel Enemy#1 – Self-Righteousness “ from Luke 18:9-14. You can listen to or download the audio file from here, or via our iTunes podcast feed.
Here’s the quotes Peter used, including the “application prayer” from J.D Greear. The applications questions he supplied, taken from the Bridges/Bevington book, to help us identify self-righteousness in our own lives, will follow in a separate post later.
John Piper:
“All the gospels want us to know from the very beginning how the story ends. It ends with Jesus dying as a Lamb for the forgiveness of sins and rising again as Lord of the universe. That is the way to understand every paragraph in the Gospels. Jesus commandments are not mere snippets of wisdom for how to raise your family, or how to prosper in business, or how to feel good about yourself. They are descriptions of how new human beings live who have been born again by God’s Spirit, and have seen the glory of his Son, Jesus Christ, and have recognised the desperate condition of sin they are in, and have ceased to trust in anything about themselves at all for acceptance to God, and have turned wholly to Jesus and all that God has done for us in him, and all God is for us in him. If the Gospels have not had that effect on you yet, you will probably misuse all the commandments of Jesus.”
John Owen:
“When we have our quiet times for the day, or when we have given a tithe, we are confident of God’s love toward us. But when our days become crowded and personal devotions end up neglected, we start to avoid God, sensing that we are under his wrath and anger. We imagine that God is waiting for us to get ourselves together before we again enter his presence. Such thinking betrays our failure to grasp the security of our union with Christ and the depth of God’s love and consequently disrupts our communion with him. Making God’s love contingent on our action is a sad but common misunderstanding in the church. Remember a believer’s union is never in jeopardy. The wrath of God against the the sin of saints was completely exhausted on the cross.”
J. D. Greear:
“About four years ago, I wrote a prayer for our church to help to this end. We often talk about “preaching the gospel to ourselves daily,” but how can you do that? This four-part prayer confronts us with the reality of God’s gift-righteousness and love:1. “In Christ, there is nothing I could do that would make you love me more, and nothing I have done that makes you love me less.”
- Pray about this “gift righteousness” of the gospel (2 Cor. 5:21) and go to war against the incipient works-righteousness hardwired into our hearts.
2. “Your presence and approval are all I need today for everlasting joy.”
- Pray about this value of God’s presence in our lives. It’s one thing to know that Jesus is your possession; it’s another for that approval to have such weightiness in our hearts that our captivity to other idols is snapped.
3. “As you have been to me, so I will be to others.”
- Pray about and consider the extravagant generosity of God toward us. His generosity toward us leads us to radical generosity toward others.
4. “As I pray, I’ll measure your compassion by the cross and your power by the resurrection.”
- Pray that God would help you view the world through the lens of the gospel. Seeing the compassion and power of God revealed in the gospel produces bold, audacious faith in our hearts.
It was great to be together on Sunday morning, to lift up our voices in praise of our great God, who’s grace has saved us!
Nathan Smith led us in singing praises to God, and rejoicing in the truth of the great exchange — all our sin placed on Christ, and his righteousness credited to us!
Here’s the quote from Terry Virgo that was shared during the worship time:
“The gospel of grace is a message of breathtaking freedom. It must be embraced with faith and thanksgiving. You are thoroughly accepted just as you are. Jesus Christ is your righteousness and he is never going to change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When you wake tomorrow, he will still be your righteousness, before you have done anything to enjoy God’s favour. You have to earn nothing. Your spirit needs to bask in the brilliant sunlight of this reality. You need to know it inwardly and celebrate it on a daily basis.”
— Terry Virgo, God’s Lavish Grace; (Oxford, UK: Monarch Books, 2003), p.40
We sang the following songs together:
If you have questions related to the prophetic contributions and tongues/interpretation that occurred during the worship time, please send us an email, and we’ll try to answer them on the blog this week.
Sunday’s sermon was the second part in our “Bookends of the Christian Life” series, inspired by the book of the same title by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington. It was preached by Peter Bowley and was entitled: “Gospel Enemy#1 – Self-Righteousness “ from Luke 18:9-14. You can listen to or download the audio file from here, or via our iTunes podcast feed.
The quotes and application questions will follow on the blog later this week.
Contrary to previous announcement, LIFE will be going ten pin bowling at the Bowlplex at Longwell Green at 7pm this Sunday. Cost will be £6 for two games. If you’re coming please CALL (07855760488) or EMAIL (nathanbowen[at]hotmail.com) Nathan Bowen in advance so he can make the appropriate bookings. Lifts will be arranged on Sunday.
Registered Charity: Grace Trust (Bristol)
Charity Number: 1094803
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