God's glory and the deepest joy of human souls are one thing

Here is the full list of points made by John Piper in his book "God's Passion for His own Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards" that I mentioned in the sermon on Sunday.  Blessings to you as you keep living for the glory of God.  Soli Deo Gloria!

1. God’s passion for his own glory and his passion for my joy in him are not at odds.

2. Therefore, God is as committed to my eternal and ever-increasing joy in him as he is to his own glory.

3.The love of God for sinners is not his making much of them, but his graciously freeing and empowering them to enjoy making much of him.

4.All true virtue among human beings must aim at bringing people to rejoice in the glory of God.

5.It also follows that sin is the suicidal exchange of the glory of God for the broken cisterns of created things.

6.Heaven will be a never-ending, ever-increasing discovery of more and more of God’s glory with greater and ever-greater joy in him.

7.Hell is unspeakably real, conscious, horrible and eternal – the experience in which God vindicates the worth of his glory in holy wrath on those who would not delight in what is infinitely glorious.

8.Evangelism means depicting the beauty of Christ and his saving work with a heartfelt urgency of love that labors to help people find their satisfaction in him.

9.Similarly Christian preaching, as part of the corporate worship of Christ’s church, is an expository exultation over the glories of God in his word, designed to lure God’s people from the fleeting pleasures of sin into the sacrificial path of obedient satisfaction in him.

10.The essence of authentic, corporate worship is the collective experience of heartfelt satisfaction in the glory of God, or a trembling that we do not have it and a great longing for it.

11.World missions is a declaration of the glories of God among all the unreached peoples, with a view to gathering worshippers who magnify God through the gladness of radically obedient lives.

12.Prayer is calling on God for help so it is plain that he is gloriously resourceful and we are humbly and happily in need of grace.

13.The task of Christian scholarship is to study reality as a manifestation of God’s glory, to speak about it with accuracy, and to savor the beauty of God in it.

14.The way to magnify God in death is by meeting death as gain.

15."It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can." (C. S. Lewis)

Elijah

An angry king.
Devastating drought.
Epic opposition.
And one man who overcomes it all.
When the world around us is spinning out of control, where do we turn?
Join us as we learn from Elijah. 

New series beginning this Sunday!!!

Changed

He became a slave. Who became a fugitive. Who came to know Christ. And overcame it all. Hear the story of Onesimus, the slave who betrayed Philemon, and the passionate efforts of Paul to convince Philemon to change his mind about this truly changed man. Join us as we begin this new series and prepare to be changed!

Brazil Mission Team

Hey Everyone
Just a reminder to be praying for the team that we commissioned last week to go to Brazil.  Be sure to check out their blog page at: http://hfcogbrazil2010.blogspot.com/
They have pictures, video, and updates on the work that they are doing.

The Easter Gathering

Come out and join us this Sunday as we celebrate the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ, conquering satan, sin, and death! We have a 'high octane' service planned in celebration of the day that changed human history forever! Plan to join us and invite your friends and family members who may have questions about Christianity or might not be inclined to attend church any other time of the year.

We also invite you to wake up early and come out to our Sunrise Service at 6:30 which will be led by Missio Dei, our student ministry.


I am totally pumped about this Sunday and I hope that you join in my excitement! I look forward to seeing you this resurrection day!

Creation

Along with our study of creation from Sunday, I didn't have the time to mention much about evolution and it's development. While that wasn't the purpose of my message, as Christians, I believe that it's important for us to be aware of the alternative position so that we can dialouge with others who hold that position. As most of you know, the theory of evolution was largely influenced by the work of Charles Darwin. Darwin's "Origin of Species" changed the way in which scientists viewed the origin of the earth. Darwin was actually brought up in the Anglican church and was in training to become an Anglican Parson. He originally set out to prove that there was a divine designer behind all of nature, studying natural theology. It was during Darwin's 'Journey of the Beagle' where he began to have a shift of perspective. I will not go into detail here, but I have listed a number of online resources which you can check out if you're interested in learning more about Darwin and the theory of evolution. Also, something that may be of interest. There's a movie about the life of Darwin that is currently under limited release. I don't know if they are planning to expand it or not. Their website is down. The movie has gotten mixed reviews, but it may be something you'd be interested in looking into. Here's the trailer you can check out:



Here are the other resources:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/

http://www.charlesdarwin.org/

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/


This site gives a good discussion of the creationism/evolution debate:

http://www.windmillministries.org/frames/CH2A.htm

Enjoy!

Foundations

This week we start our 'Foundations' series where we will look at some of the key doctrines of our faith. This would be a great opportunity for you to invite non-Christian friends who may have questions about or are exploring the claims of Christianity. We will follow the storyline of the biblical narrative and focus on one key theme each week. I am excited about this series and I'm really looking forward to teaching. I hope to see you this weekend for the kickoff!

Philippians 1: 19-30

I would encourage everyone to read Philippians 1: 19-30 this week. We will not be looking at it on Sunday morning but I feel that it's an important section of scripture that continues the theme of suffering which we addressed yesterday. In this section, Paul is torn between his desire to die and go to be with Jesus and to remain on the earth continuing to proclaiming the gospel. He says that it would be 'far better' to be with Christ (which seems to be a bit of an understatement). But Paul recognizes that it's necessary for him to remain on the earth for a little longer so that he could continue to encourage the believers and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus. Paul is a man who has his sights fixed on heaven, which compels him to live life to the fullest on planet earth.

And I have to wonder if we, as followers of Jesus, sometimes become so fixated on the glory of heaven and our desire to evacuate earth, that we miss out on the call of Jesus upon our lives in the 'here and now'. For some of us, we are so discouraged by the condition of our culture and we're so jaded by the hurt and the pain and the failure that we have experienced in our lives that we just want to be done here on earth and go to be with Jesus. I don't believe this is a totally bad desire. Life in heaven will be far better than life on the earth. Human words cannot even properly describe the beauty and majesty of heaven. But when our desire to leave earth becomes so strong that we neglect the needs of the people in our lives or we neglect to take care of the earth which God has called us to 'steward' or when we neglect to become socially involved in our culture and care for the 'orphans and widows' then our motives for being with Jesus become selfish and self-centered and far from the heart of God.

Others of us go to the other extreme and we become so attached to this world and our toys and gadgets and relationships and possessions that we don't ever want to leave. When we embrace this kind of attitude we are essentially saying that our joy is in our stuff and not in Christ and that our treasure is here on earth and not in Jesus.

If we look at Hebrews 12, a great passage of scripture that I've mentioned a lot over the past couple of weeks, the writer calls us to 'look to Jesus'. Our sights should be set on Jesus. He should be our focus, He should be our compass, He should be our hope. The writer goes on to offer these words of encouragement 'Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.'

Returning to Philippians, Paul closes chapter one with these words to the Philippian believers: "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel."

My hope for us as a faith community is that as we live our lives here on earth, our sights would be set upon Jesus and that because of our love and commitment to Jesus we would be motivated to live lives that are worthy of the gospel of Christ.

The Gathering - Kickoff

Today, we finally started "The Gathering" worship experience.  Take a look for yourself...

"New" Stuff

With the dropping of the ball, another year is upon us.  Off the top of my head I can think about several new things that await me in this new year- a new worship service, a new baby on the way, all the new people that I'll have the privilege of meeting.  As human beings, we like new stuff and I have to wonder if it's because we are image-bearers of God who is all about new stuff.  In I Cor. 5:17, the Apostle Paul writes "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation.  The old has passed away, behold, the NEW has come."  Jesus is a master at taking that which is old and making it new.  For those who are His followers, He takes our old corrupt lives and transforms them into new lives.  This means that we no longer have to be slaves to sin, but we can now be slaves to Christ- which is the pathway to true freedom! 

Finally, in the book of Revelation, John gives us a glimpse into the heavenly kingdom.  He writes: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more."  There is coming a day when God will create a new heaven and a new earth and all of creation will be as it was originally intended to be.  There will be no more weeping, there will be no more pain.  There will be no more sickness or disease.  There will be no more poverty or injustice.  Everything will be perfect and the cancer of sin will no longer infect the world. 

As we come into this new year and look forward to all the new experiences and opportunities that this year holds for us, might we remember our God who is all about new things and might our hearts be stirred in worship because we are His image-bearers called to put His grace on display.