Grace Blog

Good morning!

They are calling for snow in the DC area late Saturday into Sunday. Please check the website on Sunday morning before coming to church, in the event it does snow. The website will be updated by 7am.
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Merritt Anderson

The word "steward" seems to have made a comeback these days. I notice a sign at a park near my house that asks people to be "good stewards of the land." Stewardship is a great biblical idea. It means that I am expected to manage well what I do not own. The Apostle Paul reminds us that Christian leaders are merely servants and stewards of the mystery of God. The mystery of God in the New Testament that is now known is that God would send his Son, Jesus, to be a crucified Messiah. By his sacrifice our sin would be atoned for when we by faith trusted in that sacrifice as the sole and sufficient payment for our sin.

The Christian leader in a church doesn't own this message—it is not his own idea. Rather, the leader belongs to Christ, as a servant belongs to his master. Furthermore, the mystery of God does not belong to him or her—it belongs to God! So whatever else may be involved in being a Christian leader in a church—it primarily means he or she is a servant and steward of the good news of Jesus. This means that his or her obligation is to share the good news of Jesus Christ—Him crucified for sin. In other words, the Christian leader is a servant of Christ and a steward of the gospel of Christ. I wonder how well the leaders of Grace Bible Church steward the gospel—how well do I steward the gospel? Only the Lord can truly be the judge of my stewardship.

RESOURCES (audio, PDF, video)

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Like I promised Sunday, here is a message to listen to detailing why the Gospel is for Christians and how to think about the Gospel more fully. Mike Bullmore has been extremely instrumental for many Christians so they can walk in and enjoy the ongoing grace that came to us, through Christ's sacrifice. I am not sure I could find a more helpful "ground floor" resource for you to listen to, in order to grasp these important truths.
The Functional Centrality of The Gospel in The Life of The Local Church | Mike Bullmore

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In an effort to illustrate for you how "Gospel-Centered" thinking can begin to function in a local church, I have included the following links. Matt Chandler is pastor of The Village Church in the Dallas area. His church is a Gospel-Centered church and in these helpful messages Matt is leading his church to think about how the Gospel should inform various categories in his church. PLEASE NOTE: These messages are just meant to help you process what this important understanding could look like in a local church environment.
Matt Chandler
Gospel-Centered Worship

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My father was a home builder. He was not your typical large contractor who builds a home in 2 months. It often took my dad as long as 2 years to build a home—because he was a slow, but careful custom builder. His homes were built to last. He was always skeptical of new building material or methods. He was old school—he knew that a home that was built to last rested on a firm foundation. It took him forever to get a foundation completed. He insisted on French drains inside and outside of the footer. All footers had to be 36 inches deep and the walls were either 8 or 12 inch thick block with concrete poured inside the block every few feet. The outside of the blocks were plastered with 2 inches of mortar followed by a thick coat of tar. His foundations never leaked, cracked or swayed! They were built to last because he was a careful builder.

So when God tells the leaders at Corinth to be careful how they build the church and that no one can lay a better foundation than Jesus Christ, I think of my father. I want to be a careful builder of God's church. It scares me that I might build with poor material or use construction methods that cut corners and are quick, but may not last. I certainly want to be sure that Jesus Christ is the foundation and that the material built on top of Him will be quality material in the hands of skilled builders. I pray that God would teach me and the other leaders to be careful builders—and give us the grace and knowledge to become skilled master builders—building a church that will last.

We have just discovered that there is an issue with the download feature for the sermons on the website. Currently the files that are being downloaded are unplayable mp3s. 

Sorry for this incovenience and possible confusion. 

We'll update you here once this issue has been resolved. In mean time, please feel free to listen to the sermons on the website, through the built-in audio player, or listen through our iTunes Podcast.