GCV Blog

With all the strategies for church growth swirling around in our world, Charles Spurgeon helps us see clearly both what truth church growth is and how it happens. “Are you afraid that preaching the gospel will not win souls? Are you despondent as to success in God’s way? Is this why you pine for clever oratory? Is this why you must have music, and architecture, and flowers and millinery? After all, is it by might and power, and not by the Spirit of God? It is even so in the opinion of many.

Prayer. It’s one of our ten ministry commitments. It’s the expression of our dependence on God, the privilege of our adoption as sons and daughters, the bold access we have to God’s throne, the power ordinary people have to move God’s mighty hand, the worry killer, and the unceasing activity of the obedient Christian. Yet for something so essential, it’s also something we struggle to do meaningfully and consistently. I know that in part because I know me. It seems like my prayer life flounders when I don’t consider why I should pray and how.

Ephesians 4:11 and 12 tell us, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” In God’s wisdom, He planned for His leaders in the church to be equippers and for every saint to do the work of the ministry. Far from a recent development in church theory or a nod to the success of grassroots political movements or a scheme of the latest church growth fad, every member ministry lies at the heart of God’s plan for His church.

Have you ever heard someone else (or yourself) saying something along these lines: “I just don’t click with that person. We don’t gel well. He just has a personality I don’t like. She’s sort of annoying. We’re so different. We just don’t have anything in common.” Reality is that we don’t get along easily with everyone we know. Some people irritate us with their mannerisms or habits. Maybe they strike us as odd or make conversations awkward. Sometimes those people are family members, and sometimes those people are church family members. So if we are all fellow citizens, and members of the same family, and parts of the same building, how can we relate to people we don’t naturally like or enjoy or mesh with?

Of Satan’s many descriptions, one of the most personally chilling is “the accuser of our brothers.” Revelation 12:8 tells of a coming day that he will be thrown down from Heaven, forced to stop his day and night accusations. John clearly states that Satan does his accusing “before our God.” Because this day is still future, the biblical reality seems to be that Satan is currently, actively bringing accusations against Christians to God. Much like with Job, Satan loves to cast doubt and accusation against us to God.

Prayer for Revival “What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?” Ps 89:48 You may have heard the report about the four Soccer Camps we recently conducted. Reporting on Sunday morning requires brevity so you mostly heard facts about what it took to get thirty two people to conduct sixty hours of Soccer Camp in four different cities. This is a report on the human side of the equation.

Jonathan Edwards has been described as one of the greatest minds in America ever, and certainly one of its greatest theologians. Edwards thought and taught deeply about Jesus Christ and experiencing the greatest delight in knowing Him. In the quote below, Edwards walks us through possible objections to trusting Christ and shows us how great Jesus is.

Imagine going to a used car salesman looking for a car. His eyes light up and he takes you to a certain one. “This is it,” he proclaims. “This is the perfect car for you.” “Is it a good car,” you ask. He assures you it’s in great shape. Two weeks later you are stranded on the side of the highway. Your mechanic tells you the transmission is junk and has been for quite a while. You go back to the salesman, irate and demanding your money back. He calms you down, then says, “I’m very sorry about last time. But I have the perfect car for you. Nothing could be better.”

If you want to see what a judicial roller coaster looks like, all you’d have to do is look at the Supreme Court of the United States. Decisions have been made and then reversed, made with good outcomes for the defense of morality, and made with disastrous repercussions on biblical principles. This week marked another one of those twists and turns, but it’s impossible not to feel that the Supreme’s Courts two decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and on Proposition 8 will eventually impact our country in ways as profound as Brown vs. the Board of Education or Roe vs. Wade.

“There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others. The vice I am talking of is Pride. . . .