Glory of Christ Fellowship

To you, O Lord, we lift up our souls!  O our God, in you we trust,  Let us not be put to shame,  Let not the enemies of the cross exult over us,  For none who wait for you shall be put to shame.  Make us to know your ways, O Lord, teach us your paths,  Lead us in your truth and teach us,  For you are the God of our salvation,  For you we wait all the day long.  Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,  For they have been from of old.  Remember not the sins of our youth or our transgressions,  According to your steadfast love remember us,  For the sake of your goodness, O Lord!  Good and upright is the Lord,  Therefore, he instructs sinners in the way.  He leads the humble in what is right,  And teaches the humble his way.  All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,  For those who keep his covenant and his testimon...

For some, the past month has been one with more free time than usual as people navigate the combination of loss of work and loss of community. For others it has meant a different kind of busy—one that involves troubleshooting Zoom for remote work or school, adjusting to new rhythms as regular activities move home or are delayed, sharing space that wasn’t necessarily shared a little while ago. And whether experiencing more free time or less, we are also facing the uncertainty of not knowing what the next week will look like. This season is challenging, uncomfortable, frustrating, and often mundane. As milestones that ought to have been celebrated and moments that should have been shared pass by, and events that should have taken place are postponed indefinitely, it often feels like we are being kept from all the things that we should be doing.  It is true, there are many good things that we are not able to do right now, but Amy Carmichael once made an observation that may refra...

This week we take a break from COVID 19 issues to discuss something completely unrelated. Biblical submission in marriage. To be more specific, I would like to present seven clarifications related to biblical submission in marriage. This past Wednesday night our students at GCF studied studied Ephesians 5:22-33 and of course, submission came up. Thus, this is on the top of the mind and that's why it is the subject (no pun intended) of our discussion today.  It almost seems that the church both makes too big a deal of marriage and not a big enough deal of marriage at the same time. Marriage in itself isn't eternally important. What is eternally important is the fact that it points to Christ and his church. This is an eternal reality. Submission finds its importance as it functions to resemble Jesus and his church. This is the mystery Paul talks about in Ephesians 5:31-32 and it is now revealed to us in Christ. This must be the starting place if the church is going t...

Several years ago, Josh Reeves, Pastor of Redeemer Church in Round Rock, Texas, developed a resource entitled, “100 Practical Ways to Engage your Neighborhood.” The idea behind this resource is to help Christians add gospel intentionality to everyday life, to help lovers of Christ live as missionaries in their own neighborhoods. Several weeks ago I began the process of posting these ideas 10 at a time. Not every idea will work for everyone, but please pray over each list and ask the Lord to help you identify one thing you can do each week. And if none of the ideas on a given section of the list works for you, then let it inspire you to think of something else. Whatever the case may be, ask Jesus to enable and empower you to join him in the joy-producing, God-exalting quest of seeking and saving the lost in our neighborhoods. Here’s the fifth part of the list: Neighbors – Your Immediate Neighborhood (continued) 41. Start a sewing group 42. Go Christmas caroling in your ne...

O GLORIOUS GOD, Teach us to rejoice in the cross of Christ, Where we forever gain eternal life, Where our sins are washed away, Where we find transforming power each day, Where we behold grace and justice on display. Teach us to rejoice in the resurrection of Christ, Which destroyed the power of death, Which frees us from the fear of death, By which you have caused us to be born again, By which you empower us to live anew, For the glory of your name and the good of others. Teach us to rejoice in who you have made us to be, A chosen race, A royal priesthood, A holy nation, A people for your own possession, A family that is treasured and valued by you. Teach us to rejoice in the holy life, That is set apart for you, That is satisfied in you, That delights to be like you, That finds its purpose in following you. Teach us to rejoice in the calling you have placed upon our lives, To taste and then testify, To experience and then explain, To receive and then recite, To come into your ...

GLORIOUS GOD,  It is the flame of my life to worship you,   the crown and glory of my soul to adore you, heavenly pleasure to approach you. Give me power by your Spirit to help me worship now,  that I may forget the world,  be brought into fullness of life,  be refreshed, comforted, blessed. Give me knowledge of your goodness  that I might not be over-awed by your greatness; Give me Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God, that I might not be terrified,  but be drawn near with filial love, with holy boldness.  He is my Mediator, Brother, Interpreter, Branch, Advocate, Lamb;  him I glorify,  in him I am set on high.  Crowns to give I have none,  but what you have given I return,  content to feel that everything is mine  when it is yours,  and the more fully mine when I have yielded it  to you. Let me live wholly to my Savior,  free from distractio...

Heath Lambert wrote a book called Finally Free and in it he talks about the power of grace in the first chapter. In it Lambert warns believers not just to think of grace as a concept but as power from God. John 20:31 says these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Notice that belief in Jesus is both a one time salvation moment as well as ongoing belief that marks growth in Christ. In other words, the believer in Christ is called no only to believe in Jesus but to keep believing in him. This is no different when fighting against sexual sin and pornography. As gripping as it is the pathway out of the pit is still paved with simple belief in the gospel. So this begs the question, how am I failing to believe the gospel in my struggle against sin and what does belief look like instead?  What it Looks Like to Fail to Believe in the Gospel In short, when someone is more captured...

Since our early days, it has been our practice to devote the Sunday after Easter to local or global missions because it was the risen Christ who said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). So, while we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, we can best honor what he accomplished by going into the world and making disciples for the glory of his name. Indeed, obeying Jesus from the heart and by his power is one of the greatest joys of the Christian heart! Earlier this year, the elders decided to insert three- to four-week blocks into the Revelation sermon series so that we can speak into various things throughout the year. Therefore, this Sunday we begin a three-part series on local mission...

In this series, I’ve been addressing a vital question, specifically, how can we continue to make disciples for the glory of Christ during the COVID-19 crisis? And as I’ve said in each of the previous blogs, this question is vital because the command to make disciples comes from Jesus himself, and since he’s expressed his will, he will make a way. Based on this assumption, I have then suggested that making disciples can be summarized by three words: “share, grow, and show,” that is, we first share the gospel, then we grow as disciples of Jesus, and then we show others how to grow along with us. In the last two blogs, I’ve addressed the issues of worship and community, and I’ve said a few things about how we can grow as disciples of Jesus in these vital areas and how we can show others how to join us in them. In this same spirit, I want to talk in this blog about how we can “grow and show” with regard to mission, so first I’ll define the word “mission” and then I’ll say a few thi...

By Dave Fergus (Deacon @ GCF) "But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering;            He speaks to them in their affliction.   He is wooing you from the jaws of distress           to a spacious place free from restriction           to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.”           Job 36:15-16 In this verse, who suffers and who is this addressed to? It is addressed to ‘those’ who suffer. It is not necessarily all humans on earth, but ‘those’ who suffer. Since this entreaty is addressed to Job in his affliction, ‘those’ definitely includes Job in his singular, particular and familial circumstances which were very tragic. But this message is generally applicable to all who read this, and it could be any kind of suffering or affliction. It could be a tragedy affecting whole segments of people, or a private grief known only to one ...

In the first blog in this series, I began to address what I consider to be a vital question, specifically, how can we continue to make disciples for the glory of Christ during the COVID-19 crisis? In that blog, I said to make disciples we must “share and show” which I later modified to “share, grow, and show,” that is, we must share the gospel, grow as disciples of Jesus, and then show others how to grow along with us. It’s really that simple, and with this in mind, I made the point that we will make disciples in this or any season of life as we determine to make disciples by faith in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Then in the second blog, I addressed the issue of worship and I talked about how we can grow as disciples of Jesus in this vital area and how we can show others how to join us in it. In the same way, I want to talk in this blog about how we can “grow and show” with regard to Christian community. So, let me begin by defining Christian community, and then I’ll...

In the first blog in this series, I began to address what I consider to be a vital question, specifically, how can we continue to make disciples for the glory of Christ during the COVID-19 crisis? This question is vital because Jesus commanded us to make disciples in every season of life, so whatever you think about the crisis, we’re in it, there’s nothing we can do about it, and so the question becomes, what will we do with it? We will press on in obedience and make disciples, or will we allow ourselves to be on missional lockdown and thus fall into disobedience? The main point of that first blog was this—we will make disciples during this crisis first by determining to make disciples. We will make disciples as we submit ourselves to Jesus and commit ourselves to sharing the gospel and showing those who believe how to walk with Jesus day by day. Where there's a will, there's a way, and since Jesus has clarified his will, he will make a way! With this in mind, I want ...

“Those whom Peter addressed in his first letter were in great need of comfort. They were strangers, strangers scattered far from home; they had in consequence to suffer manifold trials, and therefore needed abundant consolations. “Such is our position in a spiritual sense. We, too, are strangers and foreigners; we are pilgrims and sojourners below, and our citizenship is in heaven; we also require the word of comfort, for while our banishment lasts, we look for tribulations. Those whom Peter addressed were God’s chosen, ‘elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,’ and one sure result of divine election is the world’s opposition. ‘If you were of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you’ (John 15:19). “So you too, my brethren, chosen out from among men, to be the peculiar people of God, must expect to be partakers of the cross, for the servant is not greater t...

In this unusual season of life, I want to address a vital question for the people of God, namely, how do we continue to make disciples for the glory of Christ during the COVID-19 crisis? To be clear, this is our calling before the Lord no matter our circumstances in life, because Jesus himself commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations by his power and for his glory, promising that he will be with us to the very end of the age - specifically with regard to making disciples.  So, again, how do we lovingly and joyfully obey our Savior’s command in such an unusual time as this? There's much to be said in answer to this question, but for today let me share three thoughts which I'll build upon in the coming days.  First, what does it mean to “make disciples”? To make disciples is to share the gospel with people and then to show those who believe how to walk with Jesus day by day—share and show. To begin with, we must explain the gospel to unbelievers in en...

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most impactful, how impactful has the Coronavirus pandemic been on you and your family? Some of you have different reasons for being either impacted or not. Some of you have potentially gotten the virus and potentially worked through it. Some of you know someone who is sick with it and wondering if they will recover. Some of you know someone who you are very worried about, knowing that if they get infected you will most likely have to watch them suffer. Some of you have loved ones who are quarantined and you cannot see them. Some of you are extroverted and literally going berserk by the lack of human interaction and as a result are functioning like a hard drive would function if there were a strong magnet next to it. Some of you have young children who don't understand the concept of social distancing and keeping them bottled up inside and not playing with others is exhausting, at minimum. Some of you have school age kids who we...