Glory of Christ Fellowship

     If anyone ever knew the power of a praying life, it was the Apostle John. When he was old and eager to lead the precious people of God in the way they should go, he wrote 1 John which, among other things, makes this promise about prayer. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).      John’s words echo those of Jesus and reiterate his great and precious promises regarding prayer. But as with Jesus’ words, John’s promise comes with this caveat: to have our prayers affirmatively answered by God, we must ask according to his will. How, then, can we know that we are praying according to his will?      First, we know that we are praying according to God’s will when we pray! That is to say, our Father invites and commands us to pray—to make o...

Confession time...sometimes I spend leisure time perusing Youtube. If my Youtube homepage suggestions reveal anything about my interests they would include sports highlights, DIY project tips, theology and political clips. Recently I have come across several debates on the way transgender athletes are ruining sports for girls.  I must admit, I am tempted to abandon Christlikeness at this point. Are we not dealing with a problem that Christians, among others, predicted from the get-go? Now our worst nightmares are being realized and in this case women are paying the price. Women, whom the left is so in favor of promoting and protecting ironically are the biggest losers in progressivism. They are the biggest losers in feminism (thats another blog) and they are the biggest losers in the transgender movement. Since God has created women and men we love all people equally and seek to do them good. As a Christian I can rejoice in the many ways our society has made progress to allow...

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 Glory Be Indescribable Love Divine Majesty This Is My Father's World Sermon Text: 1 John 3:11-18  Laying Down Our Lives -- Making Disciples For The Glory of Christ

     When Jesus taught, he often took the simple, in plain view realities and used them to explain some aspect of life that is hidden due to our dullness. For example, he pointed to the flowers of the field for several of his illustrations. Taking the easy things for us to see and understand, he explained deeper truths to those who had ears to hear.      Well, several mornings back, I awoke early and walked into our little sitting area to pray. I looked outside, and in the darkness, I could tell that something was different with the tree just beyond our window. I looked more closely, but the darkness hid the reality from my eyes. It wasn’t too long before the sun began to chase the darkness into the disappearing night. And as I glanced out the window again...the tree, that had been all green the day before, was now covered...I mean covered in little white flowers...it was beautiful! And oh the fragrance that began to waft into our home. Two days later, t...

This blog post is inspired by reading through the book titled Thoughts For Young Men  by J.C. Ryle. Ryle writes the book in his old age so he offers a perspective that I can really appreciate. He brings a lifetime of wisdom to the table and for me, the very fact that he would invest his energies into offering wisdom to young men shows how important he believes that particular age group to be. All quotes are from J.C. Ryle unless otherwise noted.  Here are three reasons the church should target young men: Because Satan Does In war, the general must determine the "decisive point" (Jim Wilson, Principles of War ) and then concentrate on it. The decisive point refers to the one place that, if victory was there achieved, would be key to victory on the whole. Satan is the enemy of God's people and understands how strategic men are. More specifically, young men. "Young men, Satan is working hard for your destruction, however little you may think it. You are t...

By Joe Smith  Founder of Strengthening the Church  I recently read The Kneeling Christian , and have been (and continue to be) impacted by that book.  The book asks the question – “why is there such a lack of prayer in our churches?”  We say we are people of prayer, but most of our prayers revolve around supplication – we routinely short circuit Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving , which may also tell us why we lack prayer power, answers to prayers, dry-ness in our prayers.  My guess is that many of you find that prayer (corporate and personal) is more about us requesting things from God (not that that is necessarily bad in and of itself) – but seldom listening for periods of time, reflecting o n His beauty, grace, majesty, sovereignty; praising His wisdom and grace, expressing our thankfulness for His abundant mercy and provision and protection, and confessing our sins to God but also to another person, naming the specific sin . The b...

     Jonathan Edwards served for twenty-one years (1729-1750) as the preaching Pastor of the Church of Christ in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, a position held for about fifty years by his father-in-law and immediate predecessor, Solomon Stoddard. After decades of fruitful ministry, the congregation, along with area leaders, fired Edwards over issues related to the theology and practice of communion.      History has shown that Edwards was right on the issues and that the congregation was wrong to fire him, but at the time, this decision plunged his family into a season of suffering. I cannot here explain the details of their predicament or suffering, but I would like to highlight several ways in which God used these things in Edwards’ life.      First, God used this time to humble Edwards. As modern people, it’s hard for us to imagine this, but Edwards could not just pick up his family and move from Northampton. Travel was difficult, and...

If there were a greatest hits Bible verse album I am sure 1 John 1:9 would be on volume 1. It is such well known verse. Let me write it down for us all to look at:  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So the question I want to pose is this: Why would God be just to forgive our sins? Why doesn't John say something else to describe what God would be as he forgives sins? John could have said that God would be merciful to forgive our sins, right? That may even seem to be more appropriate. John could have also said that God would be patient or kind to forgive us of our sins. He doesn't. He does say that God is just and therefore we should go to him to find forgiveness.  The reason God's justice is in view is because God has made a promise to forgive our sins in Christ. No doubt, God is loving and kind and merciful to forgive sins. However, John appeals to our sense of justice as he beck...

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. A Christian Home I Will Sing of My Redeemer Here Is Love This Is Amazing Grace Great Are You Lord How Deep The Father's Love For Us Sermon Text: 1 John 3:11-18  Laying Down Our Lives -- Making Disciples For The Glory of Christ

     During the course of my doctoral work at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, I studied the history of the interpretation and proclamation of the Bible from the days of Jesus until now. Over the years, this journey has been long and fruitful, for I have unearthed troves of fresh wisdom about the function of preaching in the life of the church, chief of which is the truth that there’s nothing new under the sun!      For example, consider the following quote from Augustine (A.D. 354-430) who, as you may know, is one of the most important figures in Christian history. He wrote in about A.D. 403, “My preaching almost always displeases me. For I am eager after something better, of which I often have an inward enjoyment before I set about expressing my thoughts in audible words. Then, when I have failed to utter my meaning as clearly as I conceived it, I am disappointed that my tongue is incapable of doing justice to that which is in my heart. What I myse...

Christians are typically expected to refer to nature as creation, not nature. However, using nature twice in one title is just so much more catchy. It just seems like referring to trees or rivers as creation implies a creator. Lets face it, this offends any sensibility that seeks to obfuscate the obvious: that a tree got here somehow, probably by a creator.  And here is the real kicker, if the tree got here by a creator then that creator is probably deserving of some real recognition. Like a hero who saves someones life, it wont be appropriate to recognize him or her by saying “thanks, here’s a gift card.” In fact, Isaac Watts got it right when he says in his hymn: “were the whole realm of nature mine, that be an offering far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my love my all.” Oh...yes, I realize that Isaac Watts referred to creation as nature...so I suppose that doesn't exactly support what I said earlier.  Nonetheless, we are pressing into th...