Glory of Christ Fellowship

     The Bible assumes that God is, and it teaches that God created all things to reveal his glory to all creation. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge” (Psalm 19:1-2).      Further, the Bible displays and declares that God has spoken in order to reveal his character, his thoughts, his affections, his actions, and his purposes and plans for creation. “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 40:5).      It is glorious enough that God created in order to reveal himself, but it is glorious beyond compare that God has spoken in order to make himself known to humankind, the pinnacle of his creation. Since our Creator has spoken to us, our greatest privilege and obligation in life is to listen to what he has said. List

What is God’s will for my life? If we are not asking that question right this moment we probably have or will be in the future. You know who else is asking this question? Your teenage son or daughter. If they are not asking it today the day will be right around the corner. Will I get married? What am I good at? What will I do for a living? Where should I go to school? Where do I fit in this world? These are all questions that are summarized in the classic question, what is God’s will for my life? My goal in this post is to begin to equip parents to walk their son or daughter through biblical decision making. Here are a few considerations:  Have Compassion Psalm 103:13-14 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. God has compassion on His Children because he understands their weaknesses and their limitations. He understands that His children face complexities, they have

     The ancient charge that God gave to Israel still applies to his people today. The Lord said to them, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). To hear the Lord is to listen to his words and take them to heart that we might love him with everything in us and walk in his ways. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart” (6:5-6).      In one sense, the Lord commanded his people to hear his words because they were, for the most part, illiterate people who could not read them. But in another sense, he commanded them to hear his words because he made people in his image to be part of a living, loving relationship with him. Even as a loving father speaks to his children and makes his heart and desires known, so the Lord speaks to his people and makes his glory, will, and ways known. Even as a loving child will listen, trust, and obey h

We post these worship songs leading up to the worship service so that parents may listen to them in the house or in the car within the days leading up to the worship service. Our hope is that children will hear the songs prior to and it will prepare them to participate in worship on Sunday mornings. All Creatures of our God and King The Glories Of Calvary Kindness Sovereign Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest) Show Us Christ Crown Him With Many Crowns -- Sermon Title:  Behold, Your King! Sermon Text: John 19:12-16a Making Disciples For The Glory of Christ

     Even as the Lord created the heavens and the earth by his words, and even as he called Abraham and Israel and the church into existence by his words, so his people live, breath, and have their being by his words. So passionate was God to help his ancient people understand this truth and take it to heart, that he allowed them to endure long periods of time with little or no physical food so that they would see with their eyes and receive in their hearts the primary importance of spiritual food.      As Moses wrote, “And he [the Lord] humbled you [Israel] and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3, emphasis mine). Sadly, rather than learning this lesson and delighting in their God, Israel grumbled against him and received severe discipline from him.      Happily, many centuries later

In part 1 I focused on outlining a biblical notion of stewardship. In this post I would like to develop a biblical notion of friendship. I hope to give us at least a little direction of on what you can do as parents to train your son/daughter to become a steward of friendships in the end. Let me start by raising three questions: 1. Does the Bible suggest friends are a luxury or a necessity? 2. What is the nature of friendship? 3. How do you become a good friend?  Does the Bible Suggest Friends are a Luxury or a Necessity? Timothy Keller has suggested that our culture values romance but not friendship. The example he gives is The book/movie series The Lord of the Rings . In the book the story is originally build around friendship. The movie cuts this out and replaces it with romance. Just think of it, how many movies or shows or songs etc. are you aware of that are not about romance and are simply about friendship? Good luck with that.  The suggestion here is that i

Tonight I will be teaching our students (grade 6-12) on the topic of stewardship and friendship. The main course of this year is our study on Galatians/James. Supplementing this study is the string of lessons on stewardship. It is our desire as a church to help our junior and senior high students to begin understanding themselves as stewards in this world.  What is a Steward?  Stewardship is a lens through which an individual understands themselves and their existence. Rather than seeing themselves as owners (my possessions belong to me) they see their possessions belonging to God, which God has entrusted to them to be faithfully invested for His purposes. If an individual is to live with God in their lives they must come to view themselves as stewards of everything that is precious to them and everything that belongs to them.  Another way to think of it comes from Randy Alcorn: "a steward manages assets for the owners's benefit...it is his job to find out what t

     On May 12, 1792 William Carey published a little pamphlet entitled, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens . By God’s grace, his words inspired the modern missionary movement, and by God’s grace, I’m praying that they will inspire a fresh passion for global missions at Glory of Christ.      Having touched on the necessity of obeying the Great Commission until Jesus comes, and on the difficulties involved in such obedience, the place of prayer and faith-filled action in it, and the need for organization and funding mechanisms for it, Carey concluded his pamphlet with the following words. I’m praying we will take them to heart.      We are exhorted to lay up treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal. It is also declared that whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. These scriptures teach us that the enjoyments of the life to come, bear a near relation to that

Youth ministry and parenting have this in common: we both deal with teenagers at a tricky time in their lives and we both have the opportunity to give them the gospel or give them condemnation.  Now, no one raises their hands as a parent or a youth worker and says, "I would like to give my teen condemnation." Speaking from the perspective of parent and a youth pastor, there are definitely times I wish I could give my teen something, maybe not good, but I can't remember a time I found myself consciously drawing up plans of condemnation.  Yet, here we are talking about it in this blog and if you are one of the lucky million-plus readers you are probably waiting for something predictable to bounce off of my fingertips such as, "no one votes for bringing condemnation to our teens but we are often guilty of it." You guessed it. And I think it is true. We may have the best intentions but if we are not careful, we may mishandle the gospel just enough so that

We post these worship songs leading up to the worship service so that parents may listen to them in the house or in the car within the days leading up to the worship service. Our hope is that children will hear the songs prior to and it will prepare them to participate in worship on Sunday mornings. Come Thou Fount, Come Thy King O Worship The King Glorified Glory Be Jesus Thank You Worthy Is The Lamb The Glories Of Calvary You Are My King (Amazing Love) -- Sermon Title:  Are You The King of the Jews? Sermon Text: John 18:33-40 Making Disciples For The Glory of Christ

In light of Pastor Charlie's recent sermons I thought I would share some of the fruit that it is bearing in my own heart to the hundreds of thousands of you who read this blog religiously. If you have not listened to the sermons I encourage you to visit the GCF website or iTunes to hear them (9/9, 9/16 and 9/23). Consumerism is something American Christians must give ongoing thought to since it is perhaps the pervading yet unnoticed religions of the land. Pastor Charlie helped us to see that consumerism starts and ends with the wants and wishes of the one who consumes. It suggests mankind's greatest problem is more along the lines of boredom than it is rebelling against God. It offers the individual a counterfeit salvation of renewed identity and sense of self upon purchasing new products and services. We saw that the church in America has done more than comply with consumerism but pioneered a model for appealing to consumer demand in hopes to build the church. This is tra